Evaluation of two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for serodiagnosis of Aleutian mink disease virus infection in mink

Background Aleutian disease in mink is caused by infection with Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV). In Sweden, the infection most commonly causes classical Aleutian disease in which the immune system fails to neutralize the virus and the infection becomes persistent. Diagnosis of AMDV infection is based on serological methods that detect virus-specific antibodies. Traditionally counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) has been the preferred method, but in order to enable automation interest has been paid to other antibody detecting systems. Recently, at least two different ELISA systems that detect antibodies to AMDV have been manufactured; one is based on an in vitro grown AMDV as antigen, and the other system is based on the AMDV capsid protein VP2 as antigen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the two ELISA systems for detection of antibodies to AMDV using CIEP as the gold standard.