Evaluation of four serological tests to detect prevalence of bovine brucellosis in Khartoum State

Abstract

To estimate the prevalence rate of bovine brucellosis in Khartoum State of Sudan and to compare the different serological tests, 636 stratified random samples of milk from farms and markets in the state were collected. Individual milk and blood samples were also collected from farms which showed positive reaction to the bulk milk ring test. All these samples were tested for Brucella antibodies using the milk ring test (MRT), Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT) and indirect ELISA test on milk and serum. The prevalence of Brucella antibodies was higher in milk compared with serum samples. In Enzyme-linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) test using milk samples, it was 34.7%, followed by Milk Ring Test 32.5%, while the prevalence when using the serum was 27% with the Rose Bengal Plate Test and 24.4% when using serum-ELISA. The sensitivity and specificity of MRT were 85 and 95% and for RBPT were 92 and 94%, respectively. There were association between the MRT and milk-ELISA (p < 0.01) and between RBPT and serum-ELISA (p < 0.05). The percentage agreement among MRT and milk-ELISA was 83% Kappa (p < 0.01), while the percentage agreement between RBPT and serum-ELISA was 86% Kappa (p < 0.01). When comparing the sensitivity, specificity and percentage agreement between milk-ELISA and serum-ELISA for the same cows, sensitivity for milk-ELISA was 92.8% and the specificity was 98.8%. The percentage agreement between milk-ELISA and serum-ELISA was 79% Kappa (p < 0.01). Milk-ELISA will provide an easy and significant contribution to detect brucellosis compared to other serological tests.

Prevalence and risk factors of brucellosis and dairy farmers’ KAP in 2 townships, Myanmar

“…Recently, MRT was occurred more 83.3% of sensitivity and 98,5% of specificity (Al-Mmashhadany, 2019). The similar study also reported that the level of sensitivity to the MRT test was positive among 85.0 % of the herd, whereas specificity was 95.0 % of the herd (Salman et al, 2012). However, Kumar et al (2018) reported that MRT was found 53.6% sensitivity and 98.7% specificity by using mELISA as a gold standard.…”

Epidemiology of Brucellosis in Small Ruminants of Rural and Peri-Urban Areas of Multan, Pakistan

“…Under the circumstances, serodiagnostic tests including milk ring test, Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT), serum agglutination test, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), and complement fixation test are the most frequently used diagnostic tools which are relatively safer but each with variable sensitivity and specificity. However, molecular/PCR-based tests have also been developed in most industrialized countries for the detection of this multispecies illness with a high sensitivity and specificity [ 33 – 35 ]. An effective disease surveillance mechanism should be devised to determine the load of disease in livestock and human populations at regional and national levels for its efficient control.…”

Using a One Health Case-Based Investigation for Improved Control of Brucellosis in Isiolo, Kenya

“…Antibodies should additionally be measured by reliable standardized serological tools, such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), Brucella microagglutination test (BMAT), or the Brucella Standard Agglutination Test (SAT), but the cost and laboratory requirements are currently unfeasible to implement at field sites. Rapid agglutination tests, such as the Rose-Bengal test (RBT) for serum or the milk ring test (MRT) for cattle milk, can provide cheap and easy alternatives for epidemiological screens, but only provide a little diagnostic value (7,8). Brucellosis serology is prone to false positives due to a shared epitope between Brucella and multiple Gram-negative bacteria (9)(10)(11), and additional false positives can be found in milk towards the end of a lactation period, during mastitis, or in the presence of colostrum (8,12).…”