Development and application of an indirect ELISA for the serological detection of duck Tembusu virus infection based on the NS1 protein antigen

Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) has caused significant economic losses in China since 2010. However, there is still a lack of effective methods to diagnose the disease caused by this virus, and especially to differentiate infection from vaccination. In this study, we established a novel indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) and performed a retrospective serological survey for DTMUV in Anhui province, China. Our results show that the iELISA displayed high specificity sensitivity, and with no serological cross-reaction with other duck pathogens. These findings indicate that the newly developed iELISA could be a useful screening tool for large-scale monitoring of the epidemiology of DTMUV infection in ducks.