Rapid subtyping of equine herpesvirus 1 with monoclonal antibodies

Abstract

Two antigenically similar subtypes of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) cause disease in horses. A procedure for rapid differentiation of the two EHV-1 subtypes with monoclonal antibodies was developed. Subtype-specific pools of monoclonal antibodies were constructed, characterized, and used in enzyme immunofiltration and indirect immunofluorescence assays to subtype 50 epizootiologically unrelated field isolates of EHV-1. Both assays allowed accurate subtype identification of each EHV-1 isolate with the monoclonal antibody pools. The subtyping procedures were simple and amenable to typing many isolates at one time and permitted unambiguous EHV-1 subtype identification with 3 h after isolation of the virus in tissue culture.