A MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY CAPTURE ELISA TO DETECT ANTIBODY TO BORDER DISEASE VIRUS IN SHEEP SERUM

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed to detect antibody to border disease virus (BDV) in sheep serum. A monoclonal antibody bound to 96-well microplates was used to capture antigen from detergent-solubilised BDV-infected cells. Single dilutions of test sera were then added to wells containing bound BDV antigen and control wells containing uninfected cell lysates. Specific antibody to BDV was detected by an anti-ovine IgG antiserum conjugated with horseradish peroxidase and the results expressed as ELISA units with reference to a standard curve. Sequential sera from 16 experimentally infected sheep and single sera from 103 sheep involved in a field outbreak were tested in the ELISA and for neutralising antibody. There was good qualitative correlation between the two tests.