Development of ELISA test for determining the antibody titer against Herpes Simplex Virus-1 and comparison of the results by VNT

Herpes simplex virus (HSVs) is a widespread human infectious agent, responsible for persistent and latent infections. Herpes simplex virus infections are usually continually recurrent in the normal population and represent a significant cause of complications in immunocompromised patients. In this study HSVs were propagated in BK cells and more than 502 samples were taken and analyzed for HSV IgG antibodies using Virus Neutralization Test (VNT) as golden standard test for evaluating in house Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Based on the results 80.48 % and 81.67% were positive (1.8) in VNT and ELISA respectively. There was a significant correlation between the VNT and ELISA tests in the tested samples (Pearson’s r = 0.96). Our data showed that the in house ELISA can be used for screening and determination of the prevalence of HSV IgG antibodies, which can facilitates patient management using suitable and cost effective laboratory diagnostic tests.