Abstract
On several occasions over recent years, the Investigation and Diagnostic Centre Animal Health Laboratory (IDC-AHL) was approached by external clients to perform testing of serum samples from sheep for hairy shaker disease (HSD)/border disease by using the HSD ELISA for viral antigen detection (Ag-ELISA), rather than virus isolation. The reasons were that the Ag-ELISA is faster and less expensive, is more suitable for large numbers of samples, and is a prescribed test method for international trade (Nettleton and Willoughby Citation2008). Because an HSD virus Ag-ELISA is currently not commercially available, clients suggested the use of a commercial bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) virus Ag-ELISA for the detection of HSD virus antigen as an alternative, as this approach had been published before (Orr et al. Citation1993; Schroeder et al. Citation2003). Here, we would like to clarify the confusing situation regarding the use of BVD virus Ag-ELISA for the detection of HSD virus antigen. We discuss this approach in detail in the context of information gathered from various experts in the field.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Sherryn Cepulis, and Drs Afsaneh Jalali, Peter Kirkland and Peter Nettleton for their valuable contributions to this article. We also thank Dr Richard Clough for proof-reading and discussions when preparing this publication.
Notes
1 A Jalali, Svanova Biotech AB, Uppsala, Sweden
2 PF Nettleton, Moredun Institute, Penicuik, Scotland, UK