SUMMARYOne-day-old specific-pathogen-free single comb White Leghorn chickens were inoculated by eyedrop with either 0.1 ml of phosphate buffered saline containing 10 4.3 EID 50 of the Holland 52 strain of infectious bronchitis virus or normal allantoic fluid. Trachea, caecal tonsils and kidneys were removed from randomly selected birds at 0, 3, 5, 7 and 10 days post-inoculation (pi) and the presence or absence of viral antigen was detected utilizing virus isolation (VI), an indirect fluorescent antibody technique (IFA), or a streptavidin-biotin immunohistochemical (IH) technique. The presence of viral antigen as detected by the IH technique was also compared to histopathological changes in serial sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin.Detection of viral antigen occurred more frequently with VI than with IFA or IH. The IFA and IH techniques detected viral antigen with about the same frequency.