Patent ID: 7947439

Claim:
A method of detecting whether a target animal is Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus positive or negative comprising: a) providing a tissue sample comprising skin from said target animal; b) swabbing the tissue sample with an absorbent material; c) suspending the absorbent material used to swab the tissue sample in a diluent under conditions effective to solubilize any gp48 Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus protein or protein fragment thereof without lysing cells; d) providing an assay system which comprises: 1) a capture antibody that is a Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus epitope specific antibody, said capture antibody being immobilized on a solid support and capable of recognizing and binding a gp48 Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus protein or protein fragment thereof which retains antigenic specificity; 2) a detector antibody that is an anti-Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus antibody, capable of recognizing and binding said gp48 Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus protein or protein fragment thereof which retains antigenic specificity; and 3) a signal generator for indicating the presence of said detector antibody operatively associated with Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus antigen; e) analyzing said diluent in which the absorbent material used to swab the tissue sample is suspended with said assay system to generate a change in signal if gp48 Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus antigen which retains its antigenic and epitopic specificity is present in the sample compared to when no such antigen is present; and d) comparing the signal generated to one or more reference levels to indicate whether the target animal is Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus positive or negative.