The development of a novel diagnostic assay that uses a pseudotyped vesicular stomatitis virus for the detection of neutralising activity to Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus is a risk group 4 pathogen, which mandates the use of maximum containment facilities, often termed biosafety level 4 or containment level 4 when working with infectious materials. Diagnostic and research work involving live viruses in such laboratories is timeconsuming and inconvenient, resulting in delays. Herein, we show that serum neutralizing activity against the virus can be measured in low-containment laboratories using a pseudotyped virus.