[Rapid diagnosis of infection by cytomegalovirus using early-antigen detection (shell vial)]

We performed an evaluation of early cytomegalovirus antigen detection (Shell-vial method) for rapid diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection in patients at risk. A comparative, parallel, prospective study against conventional cell culture in 913 clinical specimens was carried out. Shell-vial technique detected an early cytomegalovirus antigen in culture using an indirect immunofluorescent method with monoclonal antibodies. Cytomegalovirus was detected in 210 specimens (23.0%). In 24 instances (11.4%), cytomegalovirus was only detected by culture, in contrast with 54 specimens (25.7%) that were only positive in Shell-vial (p less than 0.001; McNemar test). Mean detection time for cell culture was 9.2 days, and 16-24 h for the Shell-vial technique. This is a rapid, sensitive, specific and simple to perform method for diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection. Nevertheless, the predictivity of cytomegalovirus disease was not improved by this technique.