Rapid diagnosis of infectious laryngotracheitis using a monoclonal antibody-based immunoperoxidase procedure

An indirect immunoperoxidase (IP) procedure using monoclonal antibody was developed for detection of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) virus antigen in frozen tissue sections. This IP procedure was compared with an indirect immunofluorescent antibody (FA) procedure, histo-pathology and virus isolation for detection of ILT virus in tracheas of experimentally infected chickens. Compared with virus isolation, sensitivity and specificity of IP were 72 and 93%, respectively; sensitivity and specificity of FA were 53 and 90%, respectively. Histopathological detection of ILT virus infection was highly specific (98%), but sensitivity was poor (42%). These findings indicate potential usefulness of the IP procedure for ILT diagnosis.