Detection of bovine coronavirus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using monoclonal antibodies.

A sensitive and highly specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system for detection of bovine coronavirus was developed using monoclonal antibodies, which showed both neutralization and hemagglutination inhibition activities. A monoclonal antibody was coated onto microplates for capturing antigen and a mixture of two monoclonal antibodies served as detecting antibodies. Using this assay, 40 of 202 fecal specimens from 29 herds were shown to be positive for viral antigen. From 10 ELISA positive specimens from 5 herds, the virus was isolated after several passages on human rectal adenocarcinoma (HRT-18) cell culture.