Determination of the antigenic relationships among six serotypes of infectious bronchitis virus using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and serum-neutralization test.

The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to detect antibody to infectious bronchitis (IB) virus in chickens. A cross-reactivity study was performed to determine the antigenic relationships among six strains: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Beaudette, and three Ontario field isolates. For comparison, the cross-reactivity study was performed in eggs using the serum-neutralization (SN) test for IB. The ELISA proved to be more broadly cross-reactive than the IB-SN test. This suggests that the ELISA for IB will be useful as a rapid diagnostic test for serum profiling in unvaccinated flocks, regardless of the IB serotype involved.