Phylogenetic comparison of the S10 genes of recent isolates of bluetongue virus from the United States and French Martinique Island.

The sequences of the S10 genes of 28 recent isolates (1994-2004) of bluetongue virus (BTV) from the United States (US) and French Martinique Island (2006) in the Caribbean Basin were compared in phylogenetic analyses to those of viruses previously isolated in the same regions. Although the analyses segregated the recent virus isolates from the two regions into distinct topotype clusters, the analyses also confirm that viruses from the US and the Caribbean Basin/Central America can share similar S10 genes despite the fact that distinct constellations of BTV serotypes occur in the two regions.

Detection of antibodies to West Nile virus in equine sera using microsphere immunoassay.

One hundred and ninety-one sera from horses that recently were exposed to West Nile virus (WNV) by either vaccination or natural infection or that were not vaccinated and remained free of infection were used to evaluate fluorescent microsphere immunoassays (MIAs) incorporating recombinant WNV envelope protein (rE) and recombinant nonstructural proteins (rNS1, rNS3, and rNS5) for detection of equine antibodies to WNV. The rE MIA had a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, respectively, of 99.3% and 97.4% for detection of WNV antibodies in the serum of horses that were recently vaccinated or naturally infected with WNV, as compared to the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). The positive rE MIA results were assumed to be WNV-specific because of the close agreement between this assay and the PRNT and the fact that unvaccinated control horses included in this study were confirmed to be free of exposure to the related St Louis encephalitis virus. The NS protein-based MIA were all less sensitive than either the rE MIA or PRNT (sensitivity 0-48.0), although the rNSI MIA distinguished horses vaccinated with the recombinant WNV vaccine from those that were immunized with the inactivated WNV vaccine (P < 0.0001) or naturally infected with WNV (P < 0.0001). The rE MIA would appear to provide a rapid, convenient, inexpensive, and accurate test for the screening of equine sera for the presence of antibodies to WNV.