[Studies on IgG antibodies of SARS patients].

Ou, Wei-ni; Xie, Yao; Ling, Wei; Li, Ping; Feng, Liang; Xu, Dao-zhen

OBJECTIVE To investigate the significance of detecting specific serum IgG antibodies in clinical diagnosis of SARS as well as affecting factors. METHODS Enzyme-linked immunoassay kit for SARS coronavirus antibodies developed by HuaDa Biological Company was applied to detect specific serum IgG from SARS patients and the production of SARS specific antibodies among patients of different age groups, sex and with or without steroid treatment were statistically compared. RESULTS Out of 121 patients studied, 71.1% were SARS specific IgG positive. Patients younger than 15 years, between 15 to 59 years, older than 59 years had positive rates of 60.0%, 70.2%, and 85.7%, respectively with no statistically significance (P=0.766); patients with or without steroid treatment showed positive rates of 70.6% and 72.4%, respectively (P=0.84); patients exhibiting either severe or light syndromes showed positive rates of 78.1% and 67.4%, respectively (P=0.493); both male and female patients showed the same positive rate of 71.1%. CONCLUSION The sensitivity of the SARS specific IgG kit utilized needs to be further improved. The production of SARS IgG is not notably correlated with sex, age, seriousness of symptoms, and steroid treatment.