Blocking ELISA assay, for detection of specific antibodies to African Horsesickness Virus in equine sera.


African Horse Sickness (AHS) is a non-contagious infectious viral disease affecting horses, both domestic and wild, and whose distribution is related to of the vectors of genus Culicoides. The etiologic agent is the AHS virus (AHSV) that belongs to the genus Orbivirus, as the Bluetongue Virus (BTV) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus, which have similar characteristic. Nowadays, nine antigenically different serotypes have been described by virus-neutralization but some cross-immunity has been observed between 1 and 2, 3 and 7, 5 and 8 and 6 and 9, but no with others orbivirus.