Abstract

A microneutralization test that measures anti-dengue antibodies was developed. Serum dilutions, neutralization reactions, and virus growth were performed in 96-well plates. After incubation, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay that used mouse anti-dengue antibodies and an enzyme-conjugated anti-mouse antibody was used to measure cell-associated viral antigens. The resulting optical density readings were processed and graphed automatically by a spreadsheet program. This procedure provided results that are essentially the same as those from the plaque-reduction neutralization test for serum samples from primary dengue virus infections, but results correlated poorly with results from samples from people with secondary infections. The test offers the advantages of ease of performance, ease in the calculation of results, lower cost, and increased speed.