A solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of antibody to rubella virus

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was established for detection of antibodies to rubella virus. In this system commercially available rubella antigen was attached to the wells of polystyrene microtitre plates after which sera were added and incubated to allow the formation of antigen-antibody complexes. The presence of bound antibody was detected by adding anti-human globulin coupled to horseradish peroxidase and visually observing the colour change produced after addition of an appropriate substrate. The test was reproducible and simple to perform and had a similar sensitivity to the widely used haemagglutination inhibition system.