Comparison of performances between three commercial ELISA kits for detection of antibodies against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PPRSV) in swine sera samples

Abstract

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is one of the most economically important diseases in pigs, worldwide. Just in the US, the total costs to the swine industry have been estimated at $664 million per year. Therefore, the continuous and reliable monitoring of the PRRS status of a pig herd is required in order to prevent and reduce costs due to this infection. Mostly used methods for diagnosis of PRRS infection nowadays are serological (ELISA) and molecular (PCR) ones.

This study aimed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of three different commercially available ELISA kits for detection of antibodies against PRRSV (IDEXX PRRS X3 Ab Test (IDEXX, USA), INgezim PRRS Universal (Ingenasa, Spain), Pigtype PRRSV Ab (Qiagen, Germany)) using 91 blood serum samples collected from pigs in Serbia.

Our study showed no significant differences in specificity and sensitivity between three commercially available ELISA kits. However, IDEXX ELISA proved to be more reliable kit for detecting antibodies against PRRSV with sensitivity of 97,4% and specificity of 98,1%, considering INgezim and Qiagen kits specificity of 92,5% and 83%, respectively, and sensitivity of 94,7 % for both kits.

In order to achieve maximal reliability of obtained results, ELISA diagnostic protocol for diagnosis of PRRS infection should be complemented with additional tests such as PCR and virus neutralization test.