Detection of bovine-virus-diarrhoea-virus antibodies in cattle with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

The serum-neutralization (SN) and the indirect-immunofluorescence (IIF) assays have invariably been used for detecting antibodies against bovine virus diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in cattle sera. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied which has a sensitivity comparable with the SN and IIF in detecting antibody to BVDV. A total of 472 bovine sera were assayed and a high prevalence of 79.2% was recorded. Positive correlations between the ELISA and the SN were found when certain sera were assayed, implying that the former test could then be used for routine diagnosis of BVDV.