Immunological reactions of Rift Valley fever virus strains from East and West Africa

Abstract

Three strains of Rift Valley fever virus, namely Nigerian (NIG), Smithburn's neurotropic (SNT), and Lunyo variant (LUN) were compared by complement fixation (CF), neutralisation (N), haemagglutination/haemagglutination-inhibition (HA/HI) and agar gel diffusion (AGD) tests. They showed reciprocal cross-reactivity in CF tests. In N tests, using immune sheep sera, there was reciprocal cross-neutralisation between the NIG and SNT strains, but not with the LUN strain, the antiserum of which neutralised both NIG and SNT antigens whereas the reverse was not the case. When hyperimmune mouse ascitic fluid was employed in N tests, there was cross-reactivity between the three strains. Both the NIG and SNT strains yielded haemagglutinins, but not the LUN strain. Furthermore, by the antibody absorption and AGD techniques, the NIG and SNT strains were found to be identical and distinct from the LUN variant strain. The techniques found most useful in distinguishing between the three strains were HA and AGD. Laboratory neuro-adaptation of the classical pantropic virus did not appear to affect its haemagglutination activity.