Because the prevention of influenza infection by vaccination warrants a global strategy to target the different reservoirs, we suggest that the modern policy of vaccinating solid organ patients should be extended both to their relatives and to the healthcare workers of transplant units.

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SUMMARYHybridomas were developed that secreted antibodies to soybean mosaic (SMV), lettuce mosaic (LMV) viruses, and to maize dwarf mosaic (MDMV) virus, strains Ap and B. All hybridomas produced antibodies specific to the homologous virus except for one to LMV, which produced antibodies that reacted at a low level with SMV and MDMV. Monoclonal antibodies against SMV were used in a double-antibody sandwich radioimmunoassay. The assay using only one type of monoclonal antibody lacked sensitivity because, presumably, limited epitopes were available. Results obtained using two monoclonal antibodies that bound to different epitopes were comparable to those using polyclonal antibodies. A competitive radioimmunoassay, using a single monoclonal antibody, was developed to detect successfully SMV, LMV and MDMV.

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SUMMARYTwo monoclonal antibodies (M-Ab) specific for different epitopes on particles of soybean mosaic virus (SMV) were used in a double-antibody sandwich ELISA (M-Ab ELISA). The non-isotopic immunoassay, which used a biotinylated second antibody and an avidin-alkaline phosphatase detection system to detect SMV in soybean seed extracts, was compared with a polyclonal antibody-based solid-phase radioimmunoassay (SPRIA). M-Ab ELISA detected less than l0 ng of SMV/ml and was more sensitive than the SPRIA which detected 25 ng SMV/ml. Furthermore, M-Ab. ELISA required less than 36 h for seed sample assays and only 5.5 h for assays involving purified virus, whereas SPRIA required 3 or 4 days. When seeds from 33 field plots, in which 0~, 30~ and 50~o of the soybean plants had been inoculated with SMV, were assayed by both systems, results of the two tests correlated for 31 of 33 (94~) seed samples. This suggests that dual-site biotin-avidin M-Ab ELISA systems have potential utility for routine screening of seed samples.