Individual-specific antibody profiles as a means of newborn infant identification

Infant footprinting and photographs are the principal means used by most neonatal care facilities for determining infant identity in instances in which identity may be questioned or unknown. These methods have been shown to be an ineffective and unreliable means of establishing identity, particularly for infants and neonates. We examined the utility of the Antibody Profile Assay, a 60-minute immunoblot-based serotyping assay, as an accurate means of determining infant identity. Fifty-four neonatal cord blood samples were evaluated in this study for the ability of the assay to match respective maternal sample profile patterns. Visual comparison of profiles allowed matching of infant samples to each respective maternal sample. Eight of the 54 paired samples demonstrated slight differences in staining that did not affect the ability to identify sample pairs. In one instance, an additional minor band was detected in the maternal profile that was not apparent in the newborn infant profile. This discrepancy within an otherwise identical pattern did not affect the ability to correctly match the maternal and newborn infant samples. We conclude that the antibody profile assay is a rapid, accurate, and positive means of identifying newborn infants.