Development and evaluation of an avian influenza, neuraminidase subtype 1, indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for poultry using the differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals control strategy.

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed using baculovirus, purified, recombinant N1 protein from A/chicken/Indonesia/PA7/2003 (H5N1) virus. The N1-ELISA showed high selectivity for detection of N1 antibodies, with no cross-reactivity with other neuraminidase subtypes, and broad reactivity with sera to N1 subtype isolates from North American and Eurasian lineages. Sensitivity of the N1-ELISA to detect N1 antibodies in turkey sera, collected 3 wk after H1N1 vaccination, was comparable to detection of avian influenza antibodies by the commercial, indirect ELISAs ProFLOK AIV Plus ELISA Kit (Synbiotics, Kansas City, MO) and Avian Influenza Virus Antibody Test Kit (IDEXX, Westbrook, ME). However, 6 wk after vaccination, the Synbiotics ELISA kit performed better than the N1-ELISA and the IDEXX ELISA kit. An evaluation was made of the ability of the N1-ELISA to discriminate vaccinated chickens from subsequently challenged chickens. Two experiments were conducted, chickens were vaccinated with inactivated H5N2 and H5N9 viruses and challenged with highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, and chickens were vaccinated with recombinant poxvirus vaccine encoding H7 and challenged with highly pathogenic H7N1 virus. Serum samples were collected at 14 days postchallenge and tested by hemagglutination inhibition (HI), quantitative neuraminidase inhibition (NI), and N1-ELISA. At 2 days postchallenge, oropharyngeal swabs were collected for virus isolation (VI) to confirm infection. The N1-ELISA was in fair agreement with VI and HI results. Although the N1-ELISA showed a lower sensitivity than the NI assay, it was demonstrated that detection of N1 antibodies by ELISA was an effective and rapid assay to identify exposure to the challenge virus in vaccinated chickens. Therefore, N1-ELISA can facilitate a vaccination strategy with differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals using a neuraminidase heterologous approach.