FULL PAPER A Rapid and Highly Sensitive Method for Diagnosis of Equine Influenza by Antigen Detection Using Immuno-PCR

A rapid and highly sensitive method for diagnosis of influenza by detect-ing viral antigens using imlnuno-PCR has been developed. The sensitivity of the immuno-PCR for the detection of the non structural protein 1 (NS 1) an-tigenically common among influenza A viruses was 101.0~2.0 times higher than that of RT-PCR for the detection of the viral genome. For the detection of the hemagglutinin (HA) subtype-specific antigen, this assay using anti-HA mon-oclonal antibodies attained a sensitivity of up to 107.0~8.0 times higher than those by virus isolation or by RT-PCR