A new automatic system for Cytomegalovirus antibodies screening: preliminary evaluation

The aim of our study was to evaluate the automated enhanced-chemiluminescence VITROS EciQ (Ortho) system compared to the EIA ALISEI (Radim) system for the first level detection of CMV IgG and IgM antibodies. Samples derived from 95 immunocompetent patients were examined. Both systems showed similar results for CMV IgG: 63 samples were positive, 28 negative and 4 samples were weakly positive. The four weakly positive samples were subsequently confirmed with the LIAISON (DiaSorin) system. Agreement was 91% concerning CMV IgM detection: 79 samples were negative, 7 positive and 9 samples releved discrepancy between the two systems.When these 9 cases were tested with LIAISON system for CMV IgM and IgG and the CMV IgG avidity test, data revealed complete agreement between VITROS EciQ and LIAISON systems.VITROS EciQ system seems to be a valuable system for the first level diagnosis of CMV infection.