Detection of immune complexes in the CSF of Japanese encephalitis patients: correlation of findings with outcome.

This paper reports the direct evidence for the presence of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV)-specific immune complexes in the CSF of 31/185 confirmed patients for the first time. A monoclonal antibody-based capture ELISA was used for the detection of immune complexes. Amongst the 31 cases positive for immune complexes, 14 were positive for JEV IgM antibodies and/or neutralizing antibodies in the CSF, 6 were positive for viral antigen in the CSF and 11 for both antibody and antigen. Correlation of findings to final outcome revealed that the presence of immune complexes in CSF was significantly associated with death (p = 0.01).