Abstract
A specific recombinant antigen was evaluated for its immunodiagnostic potential in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The antigen was used as a glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein (DvGST3-14) or as a pure recombinant parasite protein (Dv3-14). A total of 55 sera from cattle experimentally infected withDictyocaulus viviparus, 24 sera from naturally infected cattle and 25 sera from helminth-free cattle were examined. ELISA results obtained for the sera from experimental infections showed a calculated specificity of >99% for both antigen preparations had a sensitivity of 93% (DvGST3-14) and 91% (Dv3-14). For field sera from natural infections, the specificity was calculated to be 90% (DvGST3-14) and >99% (Dv3-14) and the sensitivity, 85% (DvGST3-14) and 70% (Dv3-14).