Investigation of the potential for sera from cattle persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus to generate false-negative antibody ELISA results in pooled serum from seropositive and seronegative cattle.
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Abstracto
We investigated the potential for viremic sera from cattle persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus to create false-negative antibody results when testing pools of 10 sera by indirect or blocking ELISAs. Seronegative viremic sera ( n = 23) were each added to a series of artificially constructed pools containing various percentages (0-90%) of antibody-positive sera, and the resulting pools were assayed for antibody. In all 23 cases, a negative antibody result was obtained in the pool containing no seropositive sera. In contrast, all pools containing ≥10% seropositive serum, representing a single seropositive animal in a pool of 10 samples, returned a positive result in both antibody ELISAs. We concluded that the likelihood of a false-negative antibody result occurring as a result of the presence of serum from a viremic animal was low, and therefore did not preclude the use of pooled sera for serosurveillance.