Detection of Antibodies Relevant to Infectious Disease

This chapter examines immunoassay tests for antibodies relevant to infectious diseases. Assay formats and selection of capture and detection reagents, are reviewed, and the use of blocking reagents is explained. The unique issues concerned with estimating antibodies in samples are described. Key performance targets are highlighted for antibody tests. There follows a review of the different applications of antibody tests, including blood bank testing, confirmation of acute disease status, pathogens that can affect pregnancy, vaccination efficacy, transplantation and immunosuppression monitoring, epidemiology, animal testing and biowarfare. An example algorithm for HIV testing and a profile of different antibody isotypes with time for Epstein-Barr virus infection are presented.