DETECTION OF BRUCELLA ANTIBODIES IN COW MILK WITH DOT-ELISA KIT

Batra, H.V.; Agawal, G.S.; Bala, Kiron

doi:10.21608/avmj.1998.183164

DETECTION OF BRUCELLA ANTIBODIES IN COW MILK WITH DOT-ELISA KIT

Document Type : Research article

Authors

Division of Microbiology, Defence Research and Development Establishment Gwalior 474002, India

10.21608/avmj.1998.183164

Abstract

Milk samples from 141 cows with gynaecological problems in a brucellosis endemic farm and from 50 apparently healthy cows of brucella free farm were tested with a newly developed field dot-ELISA kit. Serum samples of the same animals were checked for antibody titres with serum agglutination
test (SAT), complement fixation test (CFT) and the plate enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The kit detected as negative all the 50 milk samples from brucellosis free farm. The corresponding serum samples of the cows were also found negative to the other serological tests. Of the 141 cows belonging to endemic farm, kit detected 95 as positive on milk testing, plate ELISA and SAT found 93 and 71, respectively, as positive, on sera testing. CFT was positive in 88 cases out of the 134 cows with 7 animals exhibiting anti-complementary activity. Detection of brucella antibodies in milk by the kit from individual cows appeared to correlate well with the serological results of the cows obtained by the plate ELISA and the CFT. The simple and convenient process of testing by the kit coupled to its high sensitivity and the specificity suggests its usefulness in routine field testing of milk samples from individual animals for the brucellosis disease surveillance programs.

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