ArticleBMC veterinary research2012
Comparative assessment of two commonly used commercial ELISA tests for the serological diagnosis of contagious agalactia of small ruminants caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae.
Article in BMC veterinary research, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-platform diagnostic strategy and biosecurity as basis of contagious agalactia control programs in endemic areas.Irish veterinary journal · 2025Article
- Comparison of Commercial Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assays for Diagnosis of Contagious Agalactia Caused ByJournal of veterinary research · 2022Article
- A European inter-laboratory trial to evaluate the performance of three serological methods for diagnosis of Mycoplasma bovis infection in cattle using latent class analysis.BMC veterinary research · 2019Article
- Contagious Agalactia In Sheep And Goats: Current Perspectives.Veterinary medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2019Review
- Moving past serology: Diagnostic options without serum.Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997) · 2016Review
- Mycoplasma agalactiae, an Etiological Agent of Contagious Agalactia in Small Ruminants: A Review.Veterinary medicine international · 2014Review
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7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundContagious agalactia (CA) of sheep and goats caused by Mycoplasma agalactiae is a widely occurring economically important disease that is difficult to control. The ELISA is commonly used for the serological detection of CA but it has some limitations and the performance of the available tests have not been properly evaluated.Two commercial ELISA kits are widely used, one involving a fusion protein as target antigen and the other a total antigen. The objectives were to compare these tests by evaluating:i. Their diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, the relevance of the recommended cut-off points, the correlation between the two tests, and, the correlation between serology data and the milk shedding of M. agalatiae;ii. The influence of extrinsic factors such as the targeted animal species, geographical origin of the samples, intra-specific variability of M. agalactiae and concurrent mycoplasma infections.A sample of 5900 animals from 211 farms with continuous CA monitoring for 20 years and no prior vaccination history was used. The infection status was known from prior bacteriological, epidemiological and serological monitoring with a complementary immunoblotting test.
resultsThe average diagnostic sensitivity was 56% [51.8-59.8] for the fusion protein ELISA and 84% [81.3-87.2] for the total antigen ELISA, with noteworthy flock-related variations. The average diagnostic specificity for the fusion protein ELISA was 100% [99.9-100], and for the total antigen ELISA differed significantly between goats and sheep: 99.3% [97.4-99.9] and 95.7% [93.8-97.2] respectively.Experimental inoculations with different M. agalactiae strains revealed that the ELISA kits poorly detected the antibody response to certain strains. Furthermore, test performances varied according to the host species or geographical origin of the samples.Finally, the correlation between milk shedding of M. agalactiae and the presence of detectable antibodies in the blood was poor.
conclusionsThese serological tests are not interchangeable. The choice of a test will depend on the objectives (early detection of infection or disease control program), on the prevalence of infection and the control protocol used. Given the variety of factors that may influence performance, a preliminary assessment of the test in a given situation is recommended prior to widespread use.
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