Sensitivity and specificity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis viral antibody in cattle.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed to detect bovine serum antibody to infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus. The specificity of this assay in 304 bovine sera, collected from an infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus-free herd, was 100%; in sera from 62 cattle inoculated with an intranasal vaccine, its diagnostic sensitivity was 27.4% at one month and 100% at six months, postvaccination. In 303 bovine sera with standard serum neutralizing antibody titers of greater than or equal to 1:2 it showed 100% sensitivity; and in 463 random diagnostic samples, comparative tests indicated that enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay detected more seropositive animals (61.6%) than the standard serum neutralizing test (49.9%). The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method was considered to be technically superior as a routine diagnostic test for the detection of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis viral antibody in bovine sera.