Combination of ELISA screening and seroneutralisation tests to expedite Zika virus seroprevalence studies

Elif Nurtop (1) , Paola Mariela Saba Villarroel (1, 2) , Boris Pastorino (1) , Laetitia Ninove (1) , Jan Felix Drexler (3) , Yelin Roca (2) , Bouba Gake (4, 1) , Audrey Dubot-Pérès (1, 5) , Gilda Grard (1, 6) , Christophe N Peyrefitte (1, 6) , Stephane Priet (1) , Xavier de Lamballerie (1) , Pierre Gallian (7, 1)

1 UVE - Unité des Virus Emergents
2 CENETROP - Centro Nacional de Enfermedades Tropicales [Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia]
3 Charité - UniversitätsMedizin = Charité - University Hospital [Berlin]
4 Centre Pasteur du Cameroun
5 IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
6 IRBA - Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées [Antenne Marseille]
7 EFS - Alpes-Méditerranée - Etablissement Français du Sang - Alpes-Méditerranée

Here we propose a strategy allowing implementing efficient and practicable large-scale seroepidemiological studies for Zika Virus (ZIKV). It combines screening by a commercial NS1 protein-based Zika IgG ELISA, and confirmation by a cytopathic effect-based virus neutralization test (CPE-based VNT). In post-epidemic samples from Martinique Island blood donors (a population with a dengue seroprevalence above 90%), this strategy allowed reaching specificity and sensitivity values over 98%. The CPE-based VNT consists of recording CPE directly under the optical microscope, which is easy to identify with ZIKV strain H/PF/2013 at day 5 pi. Overall, considered that CPE-based VNT is cost effective and widely automatable, the NS1 protein-based Zika IgG ELISA+CPE-based VNT combination strategy represents a convenient tool to expedite ZIKV seroprevalence studies.

Mots clés: Seroepidemiology; Zika virus; Virus neutralization test

Domaines: Virologie; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Elif Nurtop, Paola Mariela Saba Villarroel, Boris Pastorino, Laetitia Ninove, Jan Felix Drexler, et al.. Combination of ELISA screening and seroneutralisation tests to expedite Zika virus seroprevalence studies. Virology Journal, 2018, 15 (1), pp.192. ⟨10.1186/s12985-018-1105-5⟩. ⟨hal-02044109⟩