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Page No. : 51-54

ABSTRACT

The present study compared efficacy of Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT), Micro-Agglutination Test (MAT), indirect Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (i-ELISA) and Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) for detection of Brucella antibodies in bovine serum samples. Of the 40 samples tested, 15 (37.5%), 18 (45%), 21 (52.5%) and 10 (25%) samples were confirmed positive with RBPT, MAT, i-ELISA and LFA, respectively. Sero-positivity was found highest by i-ELISA, followed by MAT, RBPT and LFA. Relative sensitivity, relative specificity, positive and negative predictive value and likelihood ratio of RBPT, MAT, LFA were calculated considering i-ELISA as standard. The agreement between tests was calculated by kappa statistics and almost perfect agreement was observed between i-ELISA and MAT (k= 0.85), substantial agreement between i-ELISA and RBPT (k= 0.61) and moderate agreement between i-ELISA and LFA (k= 0.46). Overall sero-prevalence of brucellosis in bovines in this study was determined to be 25% following the principle of serial testing and 55% following the principle of parallel testing. It can be concluded from the present study that i-ELISA is a better serological test compared to RBPT, MAT and LFA and could be advocated for routine sero-diagnosis of bovine brucellosis. However, considering the simplicity, economy and rapidity, MAT can be used as routine screening test.

Keywords: Bovine brucellosis, i-ELISA, MAT, RBPT