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It will generally not be positive during the 4–6 week incubation period before the onset of symptoms. The highest amount of heterophile antibodies occurs 2 to 5 weeks after the onset of symptoms. [9] If positive, it will remain so for at least six weeks. [10] An elevated heterophile antibody level may persist up to 1 year. [9]
Heterophile antibodies can cause significant interference in any immunoassay. [3] The presence of a heterophile antibody is characterized by broad reactivity with antibodies of other animal species (which are often the source of the assay antibodies). Such antibodies are commonly referred to as human anti-animal antibodies (HAAA).
Antibody to EBNA slowly appears 2 to 4 months after the onset of symptoms and persists for the rest of a person’s life. [10] When negative, these tests are more accurate than the heterophile antibody test in ruling out infectious mononucleosis. When positive, they feature similar specificity to the heterophile antibody test.
Heterophile antigens are antigens of similar nature, if not identical, that are present in different tissues in different biological species, classes, or kingdoms. [1] Usually different species have different antigen sets, but the hetereophile antigen is shared by different species.
An example of helpful cross-reactivity is in heterophile antibody tests, which detect Epstein-Barr virus using antibodies with specificity for other antigens. Cross-reactivity is also a commonly evaluated parameter for the validation of immune and protein binding based assays such as ELISA and RIA .
False positive pregnancy test can happen due to 'phantom hCG' which is due to people having human antianimal or heterophilic antibodies. [21] False positives can also be caused by (in order of incidence) quiescent pregnancy, pituitary sulfated hCG, heterophilic antibody, familial hCG syndrome and cancer. [22]
The MHA-TP is used to confirm a syphilis infection after another method tests positive for the syphilis bacteria. The MHA-TP test detects antibodies to the bacteria that cause syphilis and can be used to detect syphilis in all stages, except during the first 3 to 4 weeks. This test is not done on spinal fluid.
The Forssman antigen is a glycolipid heterophile antigen found in certain animals like dogs, horses, cats, turtles and sheep, and enteric organisms such as pneumococci.In sheep, it is found on erythrocytes but not on tissue and organs, unlike hamsters and guinea pigs whose organ cells do carry the antigen.