Bioassay: Determination of relative strength of a substance by testing on an organism.
Biorational products: Pesticides of natural origin that have limited or no adverse effects on the environment or beneficial organisms.
Efficacy: The ability of a pesticide product when used according to label directions to control, kill, repel or induce the desired action in the target pest as claimed.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA): ELISA is a sensitive laboratory method used to detect the presence of antigens (Ag; e.g. a virus) or antibodies (Ab) of interest in a wide variety biological samples. An antigen-antibody binding is detected using an antibody complexed with an enzyme that forms a colored product from a colorless substrate.
Minimum infection rate (MIR): of each mosquito species is calculated by the standard formula: (number of WNV positive mosquito pools/total number of mosquitoes tested) x 1000.
Mosquito Pool: Group of mosquitoes collected at the same site, on the same date and usually from the same species that are processed together for tests such as serology and virus isolation purposes.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): The PCR technique is basically a primer extension reaction for amplifying specific nucleic acids in vitro. It allows a short stretch of DNA (usually fewer than 3000 bp) to be amplified to about a millionfold so that one can determine its size, nucleotide sequence, etc.
Seroconversion: Development of detectable specific antibodies in the serum as a result of infection or immunization.