Viremia and serological responses in adult chickens infected with western equine encephalomyelitis and St. Louis encephalitis viruses.

Adult hens, similar to those used for arbovirus surveillance, were experimentally infected with western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) and St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses to describe the viremia response, to compare serological testing methods, and to evaluate a new method of collecting whole blood onto filter paper strips from lancet pricks of the chicken comb. Young (19 weeks), but not old (38 weeks), hens developed a low-titer, transient viremia for a 1-day period. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) was detected by days 10 and 14 after infection with WEE and SLE viruses, respectively, by indirect fluorescent antibody tests, hemagglutination inhibition tests, and plaque reduction neutralization tests on sera and in direct enzyme immunoassays (EIA) on both sera and eluates from filter paper samples. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was first detected in sera 2 and 3 days before IgG, respectively, but IgM could not be detected reliably in eluates from dried blood. Sera and dried blood samples collected from naturally infected sentinel chickens gave comparable results when tested by an EIA for IgG.