TABLE 5.

Long-term effect of storage at room temperature of unfixed cytospots on HCMV antigenemia assay sensitivity with the PV pool

Duration of storage at room temperature	No. of replicates	Median no. of pp65-positive PMN (range)	P valuea					Median no. (%) of pp65-positive PMN with degree of staining
								Weak	Moderate	Strong
24 hours	6	69.5 (58–76)						15 (21)	48 (69)	6.5 (10)
10 days	6	69 (58–81)	NSb					15 (22)	47 (68)	7 (10)
				NS
20 days	8	67 (59–73)	NS		NS			15 (22)	45 (67)	7 (11)
				NS			0.0055
30 days	5	70 (53–91)	NS			0.0003		26 (37)	38 (54)	6 (9)
				0.014
40 days	5	45 (43–47)	0.0015					15 (34)	27 (60)	3 (7)
				0.0002
55 days	5	26 (20–28)	0.0005					12 (46)	12 (46)	2 (8)
				0.0001
75 days	5	1 (0–5)	0.0001					1 (100)	0 (0)	0 (0)

^at test. 

^bNS, not significant.