Detection of Infectious Bronchitis Virus in Allantioc Fluid by Rapid Hemagglutination Test.

To detect the presence of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in infected allantoic fluid (AF) of SPF embryonated eggs rapid hemagglutination (HA) activity after treatment with neuraminidase enzyme was used. Twenty IBV suspected materials were inoculated in SPF embryonated eggs via chorioallantoic cavity. Harvested AFs were treated with neuraminidase enzyme and the presence of IBV was detected by inducing hemagglutination of chicken red blood cells. The specificity of rapid HA test was examined with three non-hemagglutinating avian viruses including infectious bursal disease virus, infectious laryngotracheitis virus and fowl pox virus. The sensitivity of the test was compared with reversed transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that this test was specific and had a sensitivity of 100% for IBV detection. The results of this study indicate that HA test using neuraminidase treatment is an accurate, sensitive, specific and inexpensive test for rapid detection of IBV.