Immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase techniques for detecting antibodies to malignant catarrhal fever in infected cattle.

The indirect immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescent antibody techniques were compared for their ability to detect antibodies to malignant catarrhal fever virus in experimentally and naturally infected cattle. The immunoperoxidase test detected titres of antibody 8-fold higher than those detected by immunofluorescence. The immunoperoxidase technique detected antibodies in all of 23 naturally infected cattle whereas immunofluorescence only detected antibodies in 19. The immunoperoxidase test gave good definition of intracellular virus antigens.