COMPARISON OF COMPLEMENT-FIXATION TEST AND ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY FOR DETECTION OF EARLY INFECTION WITH MYCOPLASMA-HYOPNEUMONIAE

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 45  (6) , 1122-1126
Abstract
The relative merits of the complement-fixation test (CF) and ELISA for the detection of the early antibody response to M. hyopneumoniae were evaluated. Discriminant analysis, a statistical procedure, was used to avoid difficulties associated with variation in background color and nonspecific reactions obtained with ELISA with different sera. Specific-pathogen-free pigs were exposed by contact to other specific-pathogen-free pigs which had been inoculated with M. hyopneumoniae intratracheally (experiment A) or intranasally (experiment B) 18-21 days previously. Sera were collected from each pig before contact exposure and once a week until necropsy. Antibodies were detected by CF at postexposure (PE) wk 3 in animals in experiment A (6 of 18) and at PE wk 5 in experiment B (3 of 12). The ELISA antibodies were detected at 2 wk after beginning of contact exposure in experiments A (4 of 18) and B (1 of 12). Evidently, ELISA was substantially (P < 0.05) more sensitive for detection of antibodies than was the CF test at 3-5 wk after contact exposure began. At PE weeks 6 and 7, both tests were similarly effective in detecting M. hyopneumoniae antibodies.