Effect of maternal antibody on timing of initial vaccination of young white leghorn chickens against infectious bursal disease virus.

Maternal antibody titers in white leghorn chicks against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were measured by a computer-assisted, single-serum-dilution, indirect kinetic-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (KELISA) and by a virus-neutralization (VN) test in order to predict the timing of initial vaccination. Day-old white leghorns were from unvaccinated pullets or from pullets vaccinated either four times or twice with IBDV commercial vaccines. The chicks were immunized once via the drinking water with a commercial "intermediate" live IBDV vaccine at 1, 15, or 28 days of age. Effective initial immunization was confirmed by an increase in antibody to IBDV (serologic conversion) that occurred when maternal antibody decreased to 8 and 9 on a log2 scale. This concentration of antibody was detected between 24 and 28 days of age. The computer-assisted IBDV-KELISA increased the sample processing speed for detecting IBDV antibody, and it was as sensitive as the VN test for predicting the timing of initial IBDV vaccination.