Broad reactive monoclonal antibodies for rapid identification of enteroviruses show cross-reactivity with chikungunya virus infected cells

In the past decade, enterovirus 71 (EV71) and chikungunya (CHIK) virus have re-emerged periodically causing serious public health problems in Malaysia, since their first emergence in 1997 and 1998 respectively. This study demonstrates that CHIK virus causes similar patterns of cytopathic effect in cultured Vero cells as some enteroviruses. They also show positive cross-reaction on direct immunofluorescence staining using monoclonal antibodies meant for typing enteroviruses. Without adequate clinical and epidemiological information for correlation, CHIK virus isolated from patients with acute febrile rash can be wrongly reported as untypeable enterovirus due to its cross-reactivity with commercial pan-enterovirus monoclonal antibodies. This is due to the diagnostic laboratory being unaware of such cross-reactions as it has not been reported previously. Final identification of the virus could be determined with specific antibodies or molecular typing using specific oligonucleotide primers for the CHIK virus.