The Accuracy of Elisa Versus Latex Agglutination Tests in Diagnosis of Rotavirus Acute Gastroenteritis and the Clinical Usefulness of C- Reactive Protein in Iraqi Children

AIM: The aim is to evaluate the accuracy of ELISA versus Latex agglutination tests in the diagnosis of rotavirus. Evaluate the usefulness of C-reactive protein (CRP) level in rotavirus diagnosis and the possible effect of age and gender in CRP level. METHODS: Detection of viral antigen in faecal samples via ELISA and Latex agglutination tests. CRP detected in (80) children serum samples. RESULTS: The range of CRP level was (6-96 mg/dl). ELISA more Sensitive (84.62%) than latex agglutination (61.11%) in the diagnosis of rotavirus, although the specificity of latex agglutination was 90.91% versus (74.07 %) in ELISA. Both tests give identical accuracy (77.5%) in the detection of rotavirus. Moderate agreement reported between ELISA and latex agglutination in the diagnosis of rotavirus (kappa value = 0.534). A significant difference and inverse correlation between male; female and CRP level were detected. Age significantly correlated with latex agglutination results (p = 0.013). CRP level inversely correlated with latex agglutination and ELISA results (p = 0.000). ELISA results inversely correlated with latex agglutination (p = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Although ELISA appears to be more sensitive in rotavirus diagnosis, latex agglutination has the same accuracy and can be used in an emergency (take into consideration the false positive results) as an alternative method for rotavirus diagnosis. Latex agglutination results affected by age which is an important drawback. CRP level inversely correlated with gender, latex agglutination and ELISA results.