Patent ID: 7585621

Claim:
A method for determining whether an animal is infected with West Nile Virus (WNV), or is either not infected or is vaccinated with a WNV subunit vaccine, the method comprising: (a) contacting a biological sample from the animal with a first WNV polypeptide that is not an element of the WNV subunit vaccine, wherein the first WNV polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:2, and wherein the sample comprises at least one antibody; (b) contacting the biological sample with a second WNV polypeptide that is an element of the WNV subunit vaccine; and (c) detecting whether the first and the second WNV polypeptides substantially bind to an antibody in the sample, wherein if an antibody in the sample substantially binds to the first WNV polypeptide, the animal is naturally infected with WNV, if an antibody in the sample substantially binds to the second WNV polypeptide but not the first WNV polypeptide, the animal has been vaccinated but is not naturally infected, and if an antibody in the sample does not substantially bind to either the first or the second WNV polypeptide, the animal is not vaccinated and not infected.