Rapid diagnosis of cytomegalovirus by indirect immunofluorescence assay with monoclonal antibody F6b in a commercially available kit.

Anti-human cytomegalovirus (CMV) monoclonal antibody (MAb) F6b produced by clone 95/12 was used for the rapid diagnosis (16 to 24 h) of CMV isolates in 308 clinical specimens and compared with classic isolation. MAb F6b gave 100% correlation with isolation. When this MAb was used for direct diagnosis with 212 urine and bronchoalveolar specimens, detection of CMV varied from 50 to 75% compared with viral isolation.