Comparative Serological Detection of Enzootic Bovine Leukosis Virus (EBLV) in Cattle Sera

Enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) is a notifiable disease. Virus screening or monitoring, precautions at borders, control of movement inside the country and stamping out must be carried out as official control measures. The objective of this study was to prepare an enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) as a local prepared kits for detection of enzootic bovine leukosis virus (EBL V)-antibodies that is comparable to agar gel immunodifussion (AGID) test, to evaluate the use of this prepared ELISA kits for identification of EBLV-infected herds. Serum samples (n= 1936; from imported cattle under quarantine) and 40 (suffered from enlarged lymph nodes, loss of appetite with severe depletion and drop in milk production) from two daily farms in Swiss and El-Sharquia governments in Egypt, were collected during the 1st half of 2009. Samples were tested by AGID test and the local prepared ELISA kits. A precipitated line was detected in 10 samples from the daily farms in AGID test. According to the checkerboard results of ELISA, the best antigen concentration was 4.6 jag/jal and the best serum dilution was 1/160. The prepared ELISA detected 2 samples over than that detected by AGID test. Examination of pooled sera-samples by the prepared ELISA revealed that, this prepared ELISA is more sensitive; it detected 3 sera-samples as one pooled sample. Cohenʹs kappa test showed good agreement between the measures that the sensitivity value was 90.7%. In conclusion, through the sensitivity between AGID and ELISA tests and for planning purposes, it is preferable to use the ELISA with its high sensitivity. Both tests must be used routinely as they complement each other, especially if sera with low antibody titers are under investigation.