Summary
An
indirect ELISA was developed by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale
dell’Abruzzo e del Molise ‘G. Caporale’ (IZSA&M) for the detection
of Brucella antibodies in cow’s milk. Specific monoclonal
antibody was used against a bovine IgG1 epitope and complies with
European Commission requirements. The test accuracy was evaluated
on milk samples from the regions of Abruzzo and Molise in Italy.
The negative samples came from 1,250 officially brucellosis-free
herds from the Molise region (Italy). The positive samples were
taken from three herds in the Abruzzo and Molise regions where animals
positive to the official tests were present and Brucella abortus
was isolated. Test specificity was 99.8% (with a confidence
interval [CI] of 99.6%-99.9%), while sensitivity was 100% (CI 91.2%-100%).
The probability of detecting antibodies in positive milk samples
was higher than 50% up to a dilution of 1:256 in negative milk.
The probability of identifying an infected herd in the dairy cattle
population. Under
study was 88.6% (CI 73.9%-95.3%).
Keywords
Brucella
abortus
Brucellosis, Cattle, Control, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Italy, Milk. |