Rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of duck plague virus and antibodies were developed. For the detection of antibody a serum neutralisation test and an indirect antibody test were developed. The indirect antibody ELISA allowed the rapid detection of duck plague virus antibody in ducks, making it easy for NAVETCO to study the effectiveness of their old vaccine as well as the new one. NAVETCO is now able to tell farmers if they are using the vaccine correctly. Polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies were produced against duck plague virus and these were used to produce a range of diagnostic tests for the detection of duck plague virus and antigen. Imumunoperoxidase and immunofluorescence techniques allow the rapid detection of duck plague antigen in tissue smears, cell culture and histological sections. An antigen capture ELISA was developed for rapid detection of duck plague antigen from tissue and blood samples, which was difficult using standard virus isolation techniques. A PCR was also developed for detection of duck plague viral DNA from tissue and blood samples.
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