Abstract
BackgroundAleutian disease in mink is caused by infection with Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV). In Sweden, the infection most commonly causes classical Aleutian disease in which the immune system fails to neutralize the virus and the infection becomes persistent. Diagnosis of AMDV infection is based on serological methods that detect virus-specific antibodies. Traditionally counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) has been the preferred method, but in order to enable automation interest has been paid to other antibody detecting systems. Recently, at least two different ELISA systems that detect antibodies to AMDV have been manufactured; one is based on an in vitro grown AMDV as antigen, and the other system is based on the AMDV capsid protein VP2 as antigen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the two ELISA systems for detection of antibodies to AMDV using CIEP as the gold standard.ResultsWhen employing the mean optical density of the samples from CIEP negative mink plus three standard deviations as cut-off value, the ELISA with the VP2 antigen had a sensitivity of 99.7% and a specificity of 98.3% compared to CIEP (n = 364). Analysis of samples with the AMDV-G antigen based ELISA employing an assay cut-off value based on the negative control samples, as suggested by the manufacturer, resulted in a sensitivity of 54.3% and a specificity of 93.2% with reference to CIEP as the gold standard (n = 359). When employing the mean optical density of the samples from CIEP negative mink plus three standard deviations as cut-off value, the AMDV-G ELISA had a sensitivity of 37.6% and a specificity of 98.3%.ConclusionsThe ELISA system based on VP2 antigen had high sensitivity and specificity, and was concluded to be an alternative to the CIEP as a diagnostic tool for AMDV antibodies. In contrast, the AMDV-G ELISA suffered from low sensitivity when compared to CIEP.
Highlights
Aleutian disease in mink is caused by infection with Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV)
AMDV fail to cause tissue lesions. Another rare type of Aleutian disease can be seen in mink kits born from seronegative dams, where infection leads to an acute intestinal pneumonia with respiratory distress upon infection of the type II alveolar cells and a concomitant surfactant deficiency [11-13]
The AMDV-G ELISA had a sensitivity of 37.6% and a specificity of 98.3% (Table 3)
Summary
Aleutian disease in mink is caused by infection with Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV). The infection causes classical Aleutian disease in which the immune system fails to neutralize the virus and the infection becomes persistent [2]. The disease is Depending on the color type of the mink as well as the virus strain, infection with AMDV may induce a persistent but non-progressive infection [1,9], or a nonpersistent infection where the virus cannot be detected in the blood of the mink [10]. In both these cases, AMDV fail to cause tissue lesions. Another rare type of Aleutian disease can be seen in mink kits born from seronegative dams, where infection leads to an acute intestinal pneumonia with respiratory distress upon infection of the type II alveolar cells and a concomitant surfactant deficiency [11-13]
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