Evaluation of a maedi-visna and caprine arthritis-encephalitis ring trial

Thirtyone laboratories in Austria, Germany and Switzerland participated in a trial examining 23 serum samples for humoral antibodies against maedivisn a and caprine arthritis-encephalitis. With the exception of one laboratory, which used Western blotting, all employed either an immundiffusion test (I DT) and/or an ELISA. Seven duplicates of goat serum and six duplicates of s heep serum were included in the two ser-ies of 23 samples to examine within laboratory error. The results indicated that the ELISA was more suitable f or the diagnosis of CAE than the IDT. Both tests appeared reliable for the diagnosis of MV, bur Western blotting was less suitable. The results are im portant in considering the design of control schemes.