Development and Evaluation of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Detection, Typing, and Subtyping of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

An indirect sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been used for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) typing using sets of monovalent and polyvalent rabbit/guinea pig antisera for identification of VSV types New Jersey (VNJ) and Indiana (VIND). The VIND polyvalent antiserum (VIND-P) detects any strain of the 3 subtypes of the VIND type (VIND-1, VIND-2, and VIND-3) with the same strong reactivity. It is also possible to subtype the VIND strains using VIND-P rabbit antiserum as capture antibody and monovalent VIND-1, VIND-2, or VIND-3 guinea pig antisera as detector. The ELISA proposed has about 10 times more sensitivity and provides 10% more positive results than does the complement fixation 50% (CF,,) test when epithelial samples are tested. Vesicular stomatitis (VS) is an infectious vesicular Laboratory for the Americas of the Pan American Foot- disease of horses, cattle, and swine in the Americas. It and-Mouth Disease Center (PAFMDC). is endemic in the southeastern part of the United States, Mexico, Central America, Panama, Colombia, Vene- Materials and methods zuela, Ecuador, and Peru and sporadic in Argentina and Brazil. 6 In cattle and pigs, VS is clinically indis- Antisera for ELISA and CF50 test 13 However, that test has low reac- tivity for strain subtypes VIND-2 and VIND-3. The purpose of the present study was to develop an ELISA and to evaluate its specificity and sensitivity to identify VNJ, VIND-1, VIND-2, and VIND-3 directly from field samples and from material amplified in cell culture. Results were compared with those of the com- plement fixation 50% (CF,,) test used at the Reference