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Beginning in the fall of 1981, more than fifty outbreaks of non-purulent encephalitis, from which BHV-1 was isolated, were recorded in the central region of Argentina. In order to find alternatives to viral isolation in tissue culture, the specificity and sensitivity of immunoperoxidase (IP) and nucleic acid hybridization (NAH) methods for the detection of BHV-1 in clinical samples was assessed. Brain samples obtained from animals showing signs of neurological disorder in different outbreaks and samples obtained from healthy animals were analyzed before and after storage at room temperature for 72 hours. The comparison of results of viral isolation with those obtained with the newer techniques indicated that both IP and NAH are specific (false positives = 0) and more sensitive than conventional methods, particularly when samples stored at room temperature were examined. In addition, it was found that formalin fixation does not impair the detectability of viral proteins and genomic sequences with these techniques.

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