Procedures
Identification of the agent
Virus isolation in laboratory animals
o inoculation of blood or sera of infected animals in 1–4-day-old mice or hamsters intracerebrally or by the inoculation of other laboratory animals (guinea-pigs and weaned mice)
Virus isolation in cell culture
o inoculation of various cell cultures or duck or chicken embryo fibroblasts
o inoculation of embryonated chicken eggs
Isolates can be identified as VEE virus by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), complement fixation (CF), haemagglutination inhibition (HI), plaque reduction neutralisation (PRN), immunofluorescence
The VEE virus isolates can be characterised by the indirect fluorescent antibody or PRN tests using monoclonal antibody or by nucleic acid sequencing
o VEE virus characterisation should be carried out in a reference laboratory
Serological tests