ADAPTATION OF HEMAGGLUTINATION INHIBITION TECHNIQUE (HI) FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF NEWCASTLE DISEASE IN OSTRICHES (Struthio camellus)

The  breeding  of  ratites  (ostriches,  emus  and  rheas)  has  expanded  considerably  all over the world in recent years. The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test is considered to be the  standard  serology  test,  for  detection  of  antibodies  against  Newcastle  Disease  Virus (NDV).  However,  HI  test  tends  to  give  false  positive  results  in  serum  samples  of  some species,  including  ostriches.  In  this  study,  kaolin  was  used  to  eliminate  the  nonspecific hemagglutination  inhibitors  in  ostrich  serum  samples.  Twenty-seven  non-kaolin-treated ostrich  samples  reacted  to  the  test  and  the  titres  ranged  from  2  to  64.  However,  these samples  did  not  react  when  they  were  kaolin-treated.  The  controls  did  not  show  any variance on antibodies titres, regardless of treatment with kaolin. The use of kaolin in the routine  serodiagnosis  of  ND  not  only  relieves  adsorption  of  serum  samples  with  avian erythrocytes,  but  also  contributes  to  the  reduction  in  the  maintenance  of  red  blood  cells donor birds. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17525/vrr.v13i1-2.3