DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF AN ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY FOR THE DETECTION OF ANTIBODIES TO AVIAN PNEUMOVIRUS

The development and evaluation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of antibodies to avian pneumovirus (AW) in chicken or turkey sera is described. The assay was capable of detectin g serological responses as early as 11 days after chickens had been ex perimentally exposed to APV. The assay was evaluated by testing 4989 c hicken or turkey sera from Canada (a known APV-negative country) and b y testing 1190 chicken or turkey sera assumed positive from evidence o f other laboratory results or clinical signs. This evaluation indicate d that the ELISA was 98.7% sensitive and 99.5% specific. Evaluation of the agreement between the results of this ELISA and that of another l aboratory was done by testing a panel of 218 chicken or turkey sera. T he Kappa statistic for agreement was 0.92, indicating an excellent lev el of agreement between the two laboratories.