comparative detection of measles specific igm antibody in serum and saliva by an antibody-capture igm enzyme immunoassay (eia)

laboratory diagnosis of acute measles is usually achieved by serology assays for measle-specific igm antibody. for comparison of measle-specific igm antibody in saliva and serum, 95 paired blood and saliva samples were collected 1-14 days after the onset of rash. the specimens were tested for specific igm antibody by an igm antibody-capture enzyme immunoassay (eia). measles igm antibody was detected in 89 (93.7%) of serum samples and in 85(89.5%) of saliva specimens. of the 6(6.3%) serum samples that were igm antibody-negative, 2 (2.1 %) of the paired saliva samples were igm antibody-positive. the sensitivity and specificity of saliva testing compared with serum was 95.5% and 66.7% respectively. positive predictive value (ppv) and negative predictive value (npv) of saliva testing were 97.7% and 50.0% respectively and the accuracy of saliva testing was 93.7%. our results indicate that saliva samples provided enzyme immunoassay results that were in good agreement with results from serum samples. salivary igm antibody detection is a suitable non-invasive method for diagnosing recent measles infections and epidemiological studies, especially in children.