Comparison of Four Serological Tests for Detecting Antibodies to Japanese Encephalitis Virus after Vaccination in Children

OBJECTIVES: Several different methods are currently used to detect antibodies to Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in serum samples or cerebrospinal fluid. These methods include the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT), the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of each method in detecting vaccine-induced antibodies to JEV. METHODS: The study included 29 children who had completed a primary immunization schedule with an inactivated vaccine against JEV derived from mouse brain (n = 15) or a live attenuated SA14-14-2 vaccine (n = 14). Serum samples were collected between 3 months and 47 months after the last immunization. The serum samples were tested by performing the PRNT, HI test, in-house IFA, and commercial ELISA. The antibody detection rates were compared between tests. RESULTS: All 29 serum samples were positive with the PRNT, showing antibody titers from 1:20 to 1:2560. The HI test showed positive rates of 86.7% (13/15) and 71.4% (10/14) in the inactivated and live attenuated vaccine groups, respectively. The results of the IFA for immunoglobulin (Ig)G were positive in 53.3% (8/15) of children in the inactivated vaccine group and 35.7% (5/14) in the live attenuated vaccine group. Neither the IFA nor ELISA detected JEV IgM antibodies in any of the 29 children. CONCLUSION: These results show that detection rates of vaccine-induced antibodies to JEV have a wide range (0–100%) depending on the testing method as well as the time since immunization and individual differences between children. These findings are helpful in interpreting serological test results for the diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis in situations where vaccines are widely administered.