Bovine viral diarrhea virus-infected MDBK monolayer as antigen in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the measurement of antibodies in bovine sera.

A specific ELISA for the detection of IgG antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) has been developed and was compared with the seroneutralization (SN) titers for a total of 60 bovine serum samples. A BVDV-infected Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney (MDBK) cell monolayer served as test antigen. The following results were obtained: a coefficient of correlation (r) of 0.63 (P less than 0.01) between BVDV-ELISA and SN titer in BVDV-seroconverted animals and 0.71 for all sera, including that from BVDV vaccinated animals; a sensitivity of 92%, a specificity of 91%, a concordance of 92%; and a demonstration of a parallel increase in BVDV-ELISA and SN titers in animals with seroconversion. The BVDV-ELISA permits a more complete evaluation of the humoral immune response to BVDV.