title: Comparison of indirect immunofluorescence with agar gel immunodiffusion for the diagnosis of bluetongue virus infection.
abstract: 1. Sera from 190 cows and from 72 sheep were examined to compare the results obtained with the agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) tests for the diagnosis of bluetongue (BT) disease. 2. In the AGID test, 96 of 190 (50.5%) cattle serum samples and 38 of 72 (52.7%) sheep serum samples were positive, for a total of 134 out of 262 (51.1%) sera. In the IIF test, 98 of 190 (51.6%) cattle serum samples and 39 of 72 (54.2%) sheep serum samples were positive, for a total of 137 out of 262 (52.3%) sera. 3. The fluorescence of the IIF test presented a granular cytoplasmic aspect, which in some cells was observed only on the cell membranes. 4. Statistical analysis of the data showed close agreement between the two techniques, regardless of the kind of sera examined. The IIF test showed high sensitivity (93.8% and 92.1%), specificity (91.4% and 88.2%) and positive (91.8% and 89.7%) and negative (93.48% and 90.9%) predictive values for cattle serum and sheep serum, respectively. 5. The results obtained with IIF were comparable to those obtained with the AGID test, indicating that both techniques can be used routinely in epidemiologic studies of BT. However, the IIF offers the additional advantages that it can be used for antibody quantification and for the detection of viral antigens in BT-infected cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Referencia Animal (LARA), Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Arita
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Germano
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Pestana-de-Castro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D001819:Bluetongue / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001820:Bluetongue virus / Q000276:immunology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000662:veterinary; D005779:Immunodiffusion / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000662:veterinary; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral