OPTICAL IMMUNOSENSOR TO DETECT AFRICAN SWINE FEVER VIRUS AND ANTIBODIES

A distal-phase immunoptode has been developed to diagnose African Swin e Fever (ASF) through the detection of viral antigen (VP73) and antibo dies, on pig serum samples. The viral protein VP73 is quantified using a sandwich or a competitive immunoreaction configuration. The VP73 de tection limit is 20 ng ml(-1) when the competitive immunoreaction is u sed. This configuration allows an improvement of the detection limit o f VP73 relative to the sandwich immunoreaction. The detection of ASF a ntibodies has also been performed using an indirect immunoreaction con figuration. The detection limit for antibodies is obtained to a diluti on of 1:650 000 of the infected test pig serum. The described immunopt ode appears as an important tool for the diagnosis of ASF, both antige n and antibodies.