Abstract

NAVA, Zoraida et al. Assessment of the Efficacy of the Agar Gel Immunodiffusion Test for the Detection of Antibodies Against the Enzootic Bovine Leukosis Virus. Rev. Fac. Cienc. Vet. [online]. 2012, vol.53, n.1, pp.21-27. ISSN 0258-6576.

The efficacy of the agar gel immunodifusion test (AGID) for the detection of antibodies against the enzootic bovine leucosis virus (EBLV) was evaluated and compared with the ELISA test. A total of 360 bovine serum samples were tested for both tests, following the manufacturer instructions. The agreement degree (AD), predictive values (PV), and coefficient of probability (CP) were determined and analyzed. There was a good AD between both tests (86.4%; Kappa coefficient =0.7). The AGID test detected a significant (P<0.001) lesser proportion (47.2%) of positive sera than the ELISA test (60.8%). The AGID sensitivity was 77.6% lower than the expected, while there was 100% specificity. The positive PV of a 100% and the positive CP with an undetermined value (∞) showed that AGID is a safe test for the detection of cattle infected with EBLV. In contrast, the negative PV of 74.2% and the negative CP of 0.2 indicate that there is a slight probability that cattle, whose sera were negative to EBLV using the AGID, are really free of EBLV infection. These results suggest that AGID is a suitable test for epidemiological studies, inpopulations with high EBLV prevalence, due to the minor risk of producing false positive results. However in populations with low prevalence of the disease, the use of the AGID test would be restricted due to the high possibility of giving false negative results. Therefore, the ELISA should be the test selected for eradication programs. This work is a contribution to the control and eradication programs of the enzootic bovine leucosis, since it provides information which allows the selection of the most adequate technique, according to the epidemiological status of this disease in the zone and the sanitary target pursued

Keywords : Bovine leukaemia virus; inmunodiffusion test; ELISA; antibodies.

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