Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detecting antibodies to Borna disease virus-specific proteins.

Borna disease virus is a unique neurotropic RNA virus that causes neurologic disease in a wide variety of animal hosts. We established an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of antibodies to Borna disease virus on the basis of the use of three recombinant viral proteins (recp40, recp23, and recp18). This assay system is more sensitive and rapid than the methods currently used for the serologic diagnosis of infection such as Western blotting (immunoblotting), indirect immunofluorescence test, or immunoprecipitation.