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The efficacy of a commercial ELISA as an alternative to virus neutralisation test for the detection of antibodies to EAV
Author(s) -
DUTHIE S.,
MILLS H.,
BURR P.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.2746/042516408x276951
Subject(s) - serology , gold standard (test) , virology , medicine , antibody , neutralization , screening test , virus , immunology , family medicine
Summary Infection with equine arteritis virus is a notifiable disease with sporadic occurrence in the UK. As stallions may harbour the virus after infection, horses are screened for exposure by serological testing prior to breeding. The virus neutralisation test is considered the ‘gold standard’ serological screening test, but it is time‐consuming and labour intensive; consequently there is a move towards more rapid screening methodology. In this study, a commercially available EVA antibody ELISA is assessed. The ELISA performed poorly with a sensitivity of 26% and a specificity of 96% in the samples analysed. It was concluded that this ELISA would be of little value for reducing sample turnaround time. The study emphasises the need for in‐house validation of commercially available kits.