Exclusion of HEV antibody cross-reactivity due to polyclonal stimulation

A total of 17 samples with signs of acute EBV infection and two samples with evidence of CMV infection were re-tested for HEV IgG/IgM. The same three acute EBV samples were identified as HEV IgG positive in all tests. All tests detected one common acute EBV serum positive for HEV IgM. In addition, two different acute EBV sera were identified as HEV IgM carriers using the Mikrogen and DiaSorin assays. DiaSorin detected one sample with isolated HEV IgM. For the two CMV sera, the Mikrogen and DiaSorin tests gave identical results (Table 3).
Table 3 – Samples with evidence for an acute Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) or Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection were tested for the presence of HEV antibodies. In sample no. 2, isolated IgM (without HEV IgG) was detected with one test and therefore quoted as false reactive. The measured raw values are given in brackets. * This sample should be quoted as borderline in the recomWell HEV IgM test (≥20 U/ml and ≤24 U/ml). Abbreviations: +, positive; -, negative; n.t., not tested.