Evaluation of a multiple-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in captive elephants

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become an important agent of disease in the captive elephant population of the United States. although current detectio n methods appear to be inadequate for effective disease management. This in vestigation sought to validate a multiple-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbe nt assay (ELISA) for screening of M. tuberculosis infection in captive elep hants and to document the elephant's serologic response over time using a c ross-sectional observational study design. Serum samples were collected fro m 51 Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and 26 African elephants (Loxodonta africana) from 16 zoos and circuses throughout the United States. Infection status of each animal was determined by mycobacterial culture of trunk was hes. Reactivity of each serum sample against six antigens was determined, a nd the linear combination of antigens that accurately predicted the infecti on status of the greatest number of animals was determined by discriminant analysis. The resulting classification functions were used to calculate the percentage of animals that were correctly classified (i.e,, specificity an d sensitivity). Of the 77 elephants sampled, 47 fit the criteria for inclus ion in discriminant analysis. Of these, seven Asian elephants were consider ed infected: 25 Asian elephants and 15 African elephants were considered no ninfected. The remaining elephants had been exposed to one or more infected animals. The specificity and sensitivity of the multiple-antigen ELISA wer e both 100% (91.9-100% and 53.3-100%. respectively) with 95% confidence int ervals. Mycobacterium bovis culture filtrate showed the highest individual antigen specificity (95%: 83.0-100%) and sensitivity (100%; 54.4-100%). Ser um samples from 34 elephants were analyzed over time by the response to the culture filtrate antigen: four of these elephants were culture positive an d had been used to calculate the discriminant function. Limitations such as sample size. compromised ability to ascertain each animal's true infection status, and absence of known-infected African elephants suggest that much additional research needs to be conducted regarding the use of this ELISA. However, the results indicate that this multiple-antigen ELISA would be a v aluable screening test for detecting M. tuberculosis infection in elephant herds.