Manara - Qatar Research Repository
Browse

Performance of four diagnostic assays for detecting herpes simplex virus type 2 antibodies in the Middle East and North Africa

Download (1.14 MB)
journal contribution
submitted on 2024-09-16, 10:02 and posted on 2024-09-16, 10:03 authored by Gheyath K. Nasrallah, Soha R. Dargham, Afifah S. Sahara, Malaz S. Elsidiq, Laith J. Abu-Raddad

Background

Assessments of commercial assays in detecting herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) antibodies have shown variable sensitivity and specificity, and variation in performance by global population.

Objective

To evaluate performance of four assays in detecting HSV-2 antibodies in a composite Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) population. The assays are two ELISA kits: HerpeSelect® 2 ELISA IgG and Euroimmun Anti-HSV-2 (gG2) ELISA (IgG), and two immunoblot (IB)/Western blot (WB) assays: HerpeSelect® 1 and 2 Immunoblot IgG and Euroimmun Anti-HSV-1/HSV-2 gG2 Euroline-WB (IgG/IgM).

Study design

Blood specimens were drawn from blood donors between 2013–2016 in Doha, Qatar. Twenty specimens from ten nationalities (Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen; total = 200) were randomly selected and tested for HSV-2 antibodies.

Results

In the six possible assay comparisons, Cohen’s kappa statistics indicated fair to good agreement, ranging between 0.57 (95% CI 0.28-0.86) and 0.69 (95% CI 0.44-0.95). Meanwhile, positive percent agreement ranged between 50.0 (95% CI 18.7–81.3%) and 63.6% (95% CI 30.8–89.1%); negative percent agreement ranged between 97.8% (95% CI 94.4–99.4%) and 99.5% (95% CI 97.0–100.0%); and overall percent agreement ranged between 95.8% (95% CI 91.9–97.9%) and 97.5% (95% CI 94.2–98.9%). The two ELISA kits demonstrated comparable sensitivities and specificities ≥50% and >98%, respectively, with respect to the IB/WB assays.

Conclusion

The study provided, for the first time, primary data on performance of these assays in diagnosing HSV-2 infection in MENA populations. Findings support comparable performance and utility of these assays, and demonstrate challenges in establishing seropositivity (versus seronegativity).

Other Information

Published in: Journal of Clinical Virology
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2019.01.001

Funding

Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP9-040-3-008), Characterizing the HIV/AIDS epidemics in the Middle East and North Africa: Systematic reviews and quantitative assessments.

History

Language

  • English

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Year

  • 2019

License statement

This Item is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Institution affiliated with

  • Qatar University
  • Biomedical Research Center - QU
  • Qatar University Health - QU
  • College of Health Sciences - QU HEALTH
  • Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar
  • Hamad Bin Khalifa University
  • College of Health and Life Sciences - HBKU

Usage metrics

    College of Health and Life Sciences - HBKU

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC