Bovine brucellosis is one of the most important diseases for cattle worldwide, and also for humans. We evaluated a new indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) using 498 rapid agglutination-positive bovine sera imported from a country of high incidence and 492 sera from domestic cattle. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was purified from strain 99, the anti-bovine IgG1-specific conjugate was prepared from monoclonal antibody, and the sensitivity was adjusted by international ELISA standard serum. The sensitivity of this iELISA was 99.6%, similar to 99.0% of the complement fixation test. The specificity of this iELISA was 100% because all sera from domestic cattle were negative and Japan has been free from bovine brucellosis for more than 35 years. The performance was equal to those of two foreign kits. We finished all the experiments in collaboration with a Japanese company and have filed an application for the commercial production of iELISA kits.
(Research Team for Advanced Biologicals, TEL +81-29-838-7708)
