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The neuraminidase-inhibition (NI) assay is a laboratory procedure for the identification of the neuraminidase (NA) glycoprotein subtype in influenza viruses or the NA subtype specificity of antibodies to influenza virus. A serological procedure for subtyping the NA glycoprotein is critical for the identification and classification of avian influenza (AI) viruses. The macroprocedure was first described in 1961 by Aminoff and was later modified to a microtiter plate procedure (micro-NI) by Van Deusen et al. (Avian Dis 27:745-750, 1983). The micro-NI procedure reduces the quantity of reagents required, permits the antigenic classification of many isolates simultaneously, and eliminates spectrophotometric interpretation of results. Although, the macro-NI has been shown to be more sensitive than the micro-NI, the micro-NI test is very suitable for testing sera for the presence of NA antibodies and has proven to be a practical and rapid method for virus classification. This chapter provides an overview of the USDA validated micro-NI procedure for the identification of subtype-specific NA in AIV and antibodies.

Hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) assay is a classical laboratory procedure for the classification or subtyping of hemagglutinating viruses. For influenza virus, HI assay is used to identify the hemagglutinin (HA) subtype of an unknown isolate or the HA subtype specificity of antibodies to influenza virus. Since the HI assay is quantitative it is frequently applied to evaluate the antigenic relationships between different influenza virus isolates of the same subtype. The basis of the HI test is inhibition of hemagglutination with subtype-specific antibodies. The HI assay is a relatively inexpensive procedure utilizing standard laboratory equipment, is less technical than molecular tests, and is easily completed within several hours. However when working with uncharacterized viruses or antibody subtypes the library of reference reagents required for identifying antigenically distinct influenza viruses and or antibody specificities from multiple lineages of a single hemagglutinin subtype requires extensive laboratory support for the production and optimization of reagents.