Comparative evaluation of two test methods (enzyme immunoassay and latex fixation) for the detection of heterophil antibodies in infectious mononucleosis.

The present study evaluated the Ventrescreen Mono enzyme immunoassay (Ventrex Laboratories) and Monolatex (Wampole Laboratories) for detection of infectious mononucleosis-specific heterophil antibodies by comparing test results on sera of 247 symptomatic patients. The purpose of this study was to compare not only the two different test systems but also the two different methods they represent for accuracy in detecting infectious mononucleosis-specific heterophil antibodies. Discrepancies in the test results of the two kits were arbitrated by determining the Epstein-Barr virus antibody profiles of the samples. The study showed that the Ventrescreen Mono enzyme immunoassay is as good as the Monolatex test for detecting heterophil antibodies. After discrepancies were resolved, the sensitivity and specificity of the Ventrescreen assay were 100 and 98%, respectively.