First Of Its Kind Measles Antibody Test Validated for Use with Dried Blood Spot Samples

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease that can lead to serious complications for those infected. With the number of measles cases increasing worldwide, expanding and improving access to testing for the measles virus is crucial for enhancing surveillance and prevention efforts. Now, a novel assay supports the diagnosis of a measles virus infection and also determines the immune status against measles virus, with validation for dried blood spots (DBS) as well as serum and plasma samples.

Revvity, Inc. (Waltham, MA, USA) has launched EUROIMMUN’s CE-marked Anti-Measles Virus ELISA 2.0 (IgG), designed to assist in diagnosing measles virus infections or determining immunity to the virus. The Anti-Measles Virus ELISA 2.0 (IgG) is the first in a series of assays being developed by EUROIMMUN to expand its portfolio of serological infection diagnostics, now including validation for DBS in addition to serum and plasma. The use of DBS in diagnostics only requires a few drops of capillary blood to produce reliable test results. The blood is typically obtained from the fingertip, placed on a paper card, and then sent to a diagnostic lab for analysis.

Image: The Anti-Measles Virus ELISA 2.0 (IgG) has received CE Mark (Photo courtesy of AdobeStock)

The minimally invasive sampling method and the high stability of DBS make this diagnostic approach advantageous for routine testing, research studies, or in areas with limited medical infrastructure. By enabling the use of DBS rather than traditional venous blood samples, this innovation increases accessibility for healthcare practitioners and diagnostic labs investigating measles virus infections. The Anti-Measles Virus ELISA 2.0 (IgG) can be processed either manually or automatically with EUROIMMUN’s scalable solutions designed for DBS processing and ELISA.

“Because there was no commercial assay for detecting anti-measles virus IgG antibodies using a DBS sample, diagnostic laboratories have had to validate DBS on their own. Now we can fill this gap by offering an IVDR-compliant solution,” said Dr. Lars Komorowski, chief scientific officer of EUROIMMUN.