Virology

Spotlight

Schmallenberg Virus in Ruminants

Schmallenberg virus has been identified from animals on more than 2,000 farms in Europe. Most of these have been sheep farms, but the virus has also been detected on cattle and goat farms. It is not known if wild ruminants are also susceptible. more...

New BVDV Test

The AHDC will be implementing by mid-April the new BVDV antigen-capture ELISA (ACE) test recently released by IDEXX (IDEXX BVD PI X2). In preliminary tests, the newly formatted ACE test eliminates the false positive test results that were occasionally seen with some exotic bovine breeds (enhanced test specificity). The new ACE test also contains an additional antibody reagent that can detect the one mutant of BVDV that was not recognized by the old kit (enhanced sensitivity). more...

The Virology Section of the Animal Health Diagnostic Center complements the comprehensive services by other units of the diagnostic center by providing excellent diagnostic testing as well as consultative services in the area of veterinary virology. This is achieved through the detection of viral infections in most domesticated species by offering tests that isolate viruses, that detect viral antigens, that detect antibodies made in response to infections, and that detect nucleic acids of viruses. The section also offers tests that monitor vaccine responses and tests that assist producers in establishing biosecurity programs. Consultative services involve test interpretation, testing strategies, sample selection as well as infection control strategies. These services are available to private practitioners, other testing laboratories, agribusinesses, and researchers in university and government settings.

Dr. Edward Dubovi (Director)
Dr. Randall Renshaw (Director of the TSE Laboratory)
Linda Benson (Laboratory Manager)

Services provided by the Virology Section include:

Antibody detection by various methods including complement fixation, agar-gel immunodiffusion, latex agglutination, hemagglutination inhibition, ELISA, virus neutralization, and indirect immunofluorescence.
Viral antigen detection tests include immunofluorescent antibody detection on fresh tissue, immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed tissues and antigen-capture ELISA tests.
Virus isolation testing.