A comparative study of serological tests for use in the bovine Herpesvirus 1 eradication programme in The Netherlands

We compared a gB-ELISA, a gE-ELISA and a Danish test system (consisting of a blocking and an indirect ELISA) for their specificity and sensitivity to detect antibodies against BHV1. The Danish test system showed the highest sensitivity and the gE-ELISA the lowest; the gB-ELISA showed an intermediate sensitivity. if the doubtful zone (25-50% blocking) of the gB-ELISA was considered as positive (gB-ELISA(+)), the sensitivity almost reached that of the Danish test system. The specificity of all tests appeared to be very high, 99.7, 96.7 100, 99.7% for the gB-ELISA, gB-ELISA(+), gE-ELISA and the Danish test system, respectively. Seroconversion was detected in the gE-ELISA up to 3 weeks later than in the gB-ELISA and the Danish test system. It is concluded that the combination of a gB-ELISA (for screening) and the Danish test (for confirmation) system used in the BHV1 eradication programme in the Netherlands, provides for very high sensitivity (>99.0%) (Kramps et al., 1994) and a very high specificity (>99.9%). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.