Rapid immunoenzymatic technique for titration of rabies antibodies IgG and IgM

This report is concerned with the application of the enzyme immunoassay to measure the antibodies in humans vaccinated against rabies or presenting symptoms of rabies without having been vaccinated. By the same technique we identify the IgG and IgM classes of antibodies. The antigen (5 microgram/ml), purified virus, is readily adsorbed into polystyrene tube by passive adsorption. The use of only one dilution for each serum assay (1/200) is particularly suitable for epidemiological studies. Antibody response of subjects in the course of rabies vaccination was an obvious application. After 5 inoculations of tissue culture vaccine the IgM response was poor and late; it was even negative in two cases. The IgG response appeared early on the 7th day. In the same way we tried to follow antibody response in three cases of rabies in man. Seroneutralisation (SN) antibody were not detected at the beginning of the illness. In case 1 antibodies were found on the 12th day, in case 2 on the 7th day and in case 3 on the 8th day. When we assayed the serum samples for immunoenzymatic test, we found that the sera became positive some days earlier: on the 5th for case 1, already on the 1st day for the two others. In each of these three cases the positivity of the test corresponded to the presence of IgM class globulins since IgG detection remained negative as did the SN test. Our results could have some clinical interest concerning future rabies treatment and early diagnosis.