An ELISA study on varicella-zoster virus infection in acute peripheral facial palsy

ELISA was applied to atraumatic acute peripheral facial palsy for the purpose of examining the usefulness of the method with respect to early diagnosis of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection. The material for this study consisted of 287 cases of Bell's palsy, 64 cases of Hunt's syndrome and 12 cases of zoster sine herpete diagnosed by the CF method, obtained from 16 institutions throughout Japan. In view of the results thus obtained, it was provided that cases of specific anti-VZV-IgG antibodies (anti-VZV-IgG) with a titre of 0.6 or more or specific anti-VZV-IgM antibodies (anti-VZV-IgM) with a titre of 0.2 or more were to be regarded as cases of VZV infection. By adopting ELISA, a diagnostic ratio of 94.3% in Hunt's syndrome was achieved. Moreover, possible cases of zoster sine herpete increased further by 28. Furthermore, most of the cases became diagnosable in the second week after onset of the facial palsy. It was therefore presumed that ELISA makes possible diagnosis in the comparatively early stages with only one testing, and that it is a more useful method than CF.