Comparison of indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and slide enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (SELISA) for diagnosis of Babesia bigemina infection in bovines

Abstract

An indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and slide enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (SELISA) were standardized for the detection of antibodies specific to Babesia bigemina in experimentally infected bovine calves and subsequently used for the screening of naturally infected bovine and bubaline sera. In experimentally infected calves positive reactivity was detected in sera at the earliest on day 7 by both the tests. Serological studies for detection of B. bigemina specific antibodies in 180 cow and 120 buffalo serum samples procured from endemic zones of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab revealed 56.11% and 23.33% seropositivity, respectively, both by SELISA and IFAT. Variation in the reactivity pattern between these tests was found to be non significant. The sensitivity of SELISA was determined to be 94.85% whereas the specificity was 90.85% in comparison to IFAT. The agreement between the two tests by kappa statistics at 95% confidence interval revealed kappa- value of 0.853 that depicts almost a perfect degree of agreement. The findings employing experimental as well as test sera from cattle and buffalo from some of the tick infested zones of India suggested that SELISA could be a useful tool for seroprevalence studies on babesiosis, as the test is less cost intensive with high levels of sensitivity and specificity.

An Inter-Laboratory Comparative Study of Serological Tools Employed in the Diagnosis ofBesnoitia besnoitiInfection in Bovines

“…This comparison of serological tools has already been previously carried out for other infectious diseases affecting cattle, such as N. caninum (Von Blumröder et al., 2004; Wapenaar et al., 2007), Q fever (Horigan et al., 2011), Babesia bigemina (Singh et al., 2009) and bovine fasciolosis (Ibarra et al., 1998); these tests made possible prevalence studies and the establishment of common control plans.…”

Prevalence, diagnosis, management and control of important diseases of ruminants with special reference to indian scenario

“…The disease is prevalent in many states of the country like U.P., Orissa, Kerala, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam (Ravindran et al, 2002;Wadhwa et al, 2008;Singh et al, 2009a;Sharma et al, 2013;Saravanan et al, 2013). The Babesia is transmitted to the susceptible animal by Boophilus microplus, which is the one host tick.…”

“…The infected female adult tick can spread the disease up to 32 generations. There are some novel serological tests like slide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (S-ELISA), indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and molecular test like PCR available for the detection of the disease in bovines (Singh et al, 2009a;Harkirat et al, 2013).…”

Detection of antibodies against Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina in calves from the region of Araguaína, State of Tocantins, Brazil

“…The clinical signs of the disease are fever, anemia, anorexia, lethargy, ataxia, tachypnea, hemoglobinuria, and muscle tremors (GUGLIELMONE, 1995;SOARES et al, 2000;SILVA et al, 2007;SINGH et al, 2009). The economic importance of this disease is due to the high animal morbidity and mortality especially among calves, and to its effects on weight gain and milk production, leading to the use of costly disease control and prevention measures (MARTINS et al, 1996;GRISI et al, 2002;BARROS et al, 2005).…”