ANTIGEN CAPTURE ELISA USING A MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY FOR THE DETECTION OF MYCOPLASMA-BOVIS IN MILK

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a monoclonal antibo dy (mAb) was developed to detect Mycoplasma (M.) bovis in milk samples from cattle. With this procedure, 1 X 10(5) colony forming units per ml (cfu/ml) milk were routinely detectable. No cross-reactions to othe r bovine mycoplasma species were observed. Both the sensitivity of 80. 6% and the specificity of 94.9% are sufficient for its use in diagnosi s of clinical mastitis. The sensitivity could be increased by 10% afte r introduction of 48-hour pre-incubation of samples. This allowed reco gnition of cows shedding M. bovis amounts of 10(3) cfu/ml in their mil k, which is typical for subclinical cases. Screening of mirk samples b y means of this antigen capture ELISA has advantages over culture meth ods in terms of speed and potential to monitor large herds, thereby pe rmitting early culling of infected animals to reduce transmission of t he pathogen to non-infected animals.