STABILITY OF SENTINEL CHICKEN SERUM AT DIFFERING TEMPERATURES FOR WEST NILE VIRUS DETECTION

Abstract

The control of arboviruses is aided by surveillance programs. The use of sentinel chickens is a commonly used surveillance tool with operational benefits for mosquito control. However, sentinel chicken programs have associated costs related to animal husbandry, sample collection, and for out-sourced testing such as shipping costs. This study investigated the impact of eliminating cold shipping conditions often required for shipping samples to outside laboratories. Storage of sentinel chicken samples at room temperature (22℃) and 50℃ for up to 6 days post blood draw and serum separation showed no difference in the reportable results with a commercially available competitive ELISA assay despite there being significant differences among some of the temperatures/days post blood draw. Eliminating the need for cold shipping conditions and the need for overnight shipping may reduce costs for mosquito control program.