Introduction: Human herpesvirus (HHV)-7 establishes a latent infection during the lifetime of the host and can reactivate after the primary infection, leading to lytic replication in immunosuppressed patients.
Methods: This study aimed to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to identify HHV-7 serum antibodies and compare its performance with that of an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA).
Results: Serum samples (n=102) were tested by IgG-IFA and by ELISA. IFA and ELISA showed IgG-positive results in 77 and 73 samples, respectively. Qualitative concordance of 96% was demonstrated between the two techniques.
Conclusions: ELISA may be useful to diagnose HHV-7 infection.