immunodiffusion test in rift valley fever II Serological investigation of RVF precipitin antibiotics in different animal species and their persistence in some infected bovine herds

An account is given on the practical application of the AGT in the serodiagnosis of RVF-infection in different animal species raised in different localities in the period from October 1979 up to July 1980. Samples were collected from vaccinated and non-vaccinated animals with and without a previous history of clinical RVF-infections. Samples were also collected from an infected dairy farm over, a period of 7 months to study the appearance and persistance of precipitating antibodies. Positive reactions could be detected in clinically diseased and non-vaccinated animals as well as in some apparently healthy non-vaccinated buffaloes but never in vaccinated animals. Precipitating antibodies could be detected as early as 10 days post notification as remained detectable for as long as 7 months thereafter

immunodiffusion test in rift valley fever 1 Standardization of procedure and detection of precipitin antibodies in experimentally infected laboratory animals

An account is given on the possible integration of the gel diffusion test in the serodiagnosis of the Rift Valley Fever. The effect of different variables [saline or buffer, pH of agar medium, different antigen preparations, temperature, dilution of reagents] was studied. A single precipitation line was easily detectable after 24 - 48 hours incubation at room temperature or at 37°C. The specifity of the reaction is discussed in detail and confirmed through the virus isolation from a previously infected sheep herd, whose convalescent sera gave positive reactions when tested with the gel diffusion test