Diagnostic importance of elisa and haemagglutination inhibition tests in canine parvoviral infection of dogs

Canine Parvovirus(CPV) was first recognised in 1978 as the causative agent of a new canine disease syndrome characterised by myocarditis and haemorrhagic mucoidal enteritis.CPV infections had been reported in 50 countries around the world. CPV is an autonomous parvovirus similar to feline panleukopenia and mink enteritis virus. Myocarditis form is often fatal in puppies 4-8 weeks of age. Enteritis form is characterised by acute, severe diarrhoea, vomitting and leukopenia. Canine parvoviral enteritis can not be unequivocally diagonsed of CPV enteritis depends upon detection of specific antibody in serum or the presence of virus in faeces. A number of serologic techniques have been described including haemaglutination-inhibition (HAI), radial hemolysis, plaque reduction, serum neutralisation assay (SN), indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) assays, and radioimmunoassay techniques. Where different methods have been compared, they have generally yielded similar results, although some techniques are much more sensitive than others. Carmichael informed that there was a great correspondence between SN and HAI titres in dogs with CPV enteritis;however the SN test procedure was more sensitive in detecting low levels of antibody. Horner also found that HAI test results correlated well with histology in dogs with CPV enteritis. The presence of CPV in faeces is an unequivocal evidence of active infection. Methods available to detect the virus include electron microscopy, faecal haemaglutination, counterimmunoelectro- phoresis, viral isolation and ELISA tests. However, the period of faecal antigen shed is brief and somewhat cyclical; it corresponds to five to seven days of clinical illness. The objective of the present study was to compare ELISA and HI tests in the diagnosis canine parvoviral infection.