Studies were done to evaluate comparatively the traditional HA
assay and a more recently introduced lectin-neuraminidase (LN)
methodology in search of a simple and sensitive assay for virus
detection during laboratorial diagnosis. The results proved the
value of LN assay as a sensitive methodology for detection of virus
particles, presenting results at least equal to those obtained by HA
(hemagglutination) assay, with significant values of accumulated
frequencies for LN/HA factors (ratios between LN and HA titers)
higher than two. The accumulated values of frequencies for LN/HA
factors as high as four were very significant, 72.7% for
influenzavirus and 60.7% for Newcastle disease virus (NDV), moreover
accumulated frequencies for LN/HA factors even as high as 32 were
due to influenzavirus (45.4%) and NDV (7.2%) samples. After the
storage period, most of those concentraded samples that even did not
present HA titers could be detected through LN assay, demonstrating
a lower threshold for virus detection.
