Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the diagnosis of bovine paratuberculosis

The objective of this study was to standardize and develop an ELISA with protoplasmatic antigen from a Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (Map) 3065 strain obtained from sheep, to be used for the diagnosis of bovine paratuberculosis. The antigen was set on plates at 10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 mu g/100 mu l concentrations and 1:20, 1:40, 1:80 and 1:160 dilutions of positive and negative control sera were tested. The cutoff point was established with a confidence interval of 95% and two standard deviations. Four-hundred and ninety-one bovine sera were used to establish sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA; likewise feces samples were collected for bacteriological isolation and the nested polymerase chain reaction test (PCR) was applied for Map detection. Results of the three tests were analyzed by kappa test to determine association or concordance. Antigen and sera concentration that gave the best difference between controls was 1.25 mu g/100 mu l antigen and 1:160 serum dilution, cutoff point was established at an optic density of 0.196; obtained sensitivity was 79.31 %, while specificity was 82.25 % and concordance index of the ELISA was 0.2763 as compared to the culture. Results obtained by ELISA with protoplasmatic antigen of the Map 3065 strain make the recommendation of this assay appropriate as an alternative for the diagnosis of bovine paratuberculosis.