IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNAL LABORATORY QUALITY-CONTROL PROCEDURES FOR THE MONITORING OF ELISA PERFORMANCE AT A REGIONAL VETERINARY LABORATORY

Quality control (QC) procedures for antigen detection enzyme-linked im munosorbent assays (ELISAs) for hog cholera (HC) virus, foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus, and an antibody detection ELISA. for FMD virus w ere established at a regional veterinary laboratory in northern Thaila nd. A recently developed computer software package, QCEL, was used to facilitate management and analysis of QC data. The program was used to assess test performance by producing Shewhart-CUSUM control charts wh ich monitored control data for unacceptable fluctuations or trends. QC EL-generated control charts and analyses are presented and discussed. The use of a simple;integrated computerised system for storage and ana lysis of QC control data provided the laboratory with the opportunity to achieve increased confidence in the results of tests performed.