Filter paper sampling of blood for the detection of antibodies to Infectious Bursal Disease virus using a commercial ELISA kit

Aim: The present study was designed to investigate the feasibility of the filter paper sampling of blood for the detection of IBDV antibodies in chicken sera using a commercial ELISA kit. Materials and Methods: Optimum dilution for filter paper extracts that would give a result equivalent to that of the corresponding serum sample in a commercial ELISA was determined. Correlation between the filter paper extracts based ELISA and conventional serum based ELISA was also examined and the reproducibility of the filter paper extracts based ELISA was tested. Results: A very good correlation (r = 0.9; n = 15; p<0.01) was observed between the results obtained with filter paper extracts based ELISA and serum based ELISA. The antibody titre determined by two systems were very close and did not exceed more than a two-fold dilution with the exception of samples having very low antibody levels, where relatively higher background reaction was observed with filter paper extracts based ELISA. The filter paper extracts based ELISA appeared to be quite reproducible with a coefficient of variation less than 10%. Conclusion: Filter paper based ELISA could be a useful alternative to serum dependant ELISA assays for sero-profiling chicken flocks for IBDV antibodies.