Development and laboratory evaluation of two lateral flow devices for the detection of vesicular stomatitis virus in clinical samples

Two lateral flow devices (LFD) for the detection of vesicular stomatitis (VS) virus (VSV), types Indiana (VSV-IND) and New Jersey (VSV-NJ) were developed using monoclonal antibodies Cl and F25VSVNJ-45 to the respective VSV serotypes. The performance of the LFDs was evaluated in the laboratory on suspensions of vesicular epithelia and cell culture passage derived supernatants of VSV. The collection of test samples included 105 positive for VSV-IND (92 vesicular epithelial suspensions and 13 cell culture antigens; encompassing 93 samples of subtype 1 [VSV-IND-1],9 of subtype 2 [VSV-IND-2] and 3 of subtype 3 [VSV-IND-3]) and 189 positive for VSV-NJ (162 vesicular epithelial suspensions and 27 cell culture antigens) from suspected cases of vesicular disease in cattle and horses collected from 11 countries between 1937 and 2008 or else were derived from experimental infection and 777 samples that were either shown to be positive or negative for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus (FMDV) and swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) or else collected from healthy cattle or pigs and collected from 68 countries between 1965 and 2011. The diagnostic sensitivity of the VSV-IND (for reaction with VSV-IND-1) and VSV-NJ LFDs was either similar or identical at 94.6% (VSV-IND) and 97.4% (VSV-NJ) compared to 92.5% and 97.4% obtained by the reference method of antigen ELISA. The VSV-IND LFD failed to react with viruses of VSV-IND-2 and 3, while the VSV-NJ device recognized all VSV-NJ virus strains. The diagnostic specificities of the VSV-IND and VSV-NJ LFDs were 99.1% and 100, respectively, compared to 99.6% and 99.8% for the ELISA. Reactions with FMDV which can produce indistinguishable syndromes clinically in cattle, pigs and sheep and SVDV (vesicular disease in pigs) did not occur. These data illustrate the potential for the LFDs to be used next to the animal for providing rapid and objective support to veterinarians in their clinical judgment of vesicular disease and for the subtype (VSV-IND-1) and type-specific (VSV-NJ) pen-side diagnosis of VS and differential diagnosis from FMD.