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 (APV) in chicken or turkey sera is described. The assay was capable of detecting serological responses as early as 11 days after chickens had been experimentally exposed to APV. The assay was evaluated by testing 4989 chicken or turkey sera from Canada (a known APV-negative country) and by testing 1190 chicken or turkey sera assumed positive from evidence of other laboratory results or clinical signs. This evaluation indicated 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 laboratory was done by testing a panel of 218 chicken or turkey sera. The Kappa statistic for agreement was 0.92, indicating an excellent level of agreement between the two laboratories.