Comparison of direct and modified direct complement-fixation and agar-gel precipitin methods in detecting chlamydial antibody in wild birds.

Detection of chlamydial antibody in serums of wild birds was compared for the following methods: direct complement-fixation (DCF), modified DCF (MDCF), and agar-gel precipitin (AGP). The birds species used were great-tailed grackles (Cassidix mexicanus), common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula), brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), bronzed cowbirds (Tangavius aeneus), and mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). The birds were either inoculated with an isolate of Chlamydia psittaci obtained originally from turkeys or kept as uninoculated cagemates. DCF detected antibody in most inoculated common grackles, mourning doves, and brown-headed cowbirds. It was unreliable, however, for great-tailed grackles and bronzed cowbirds inoculated intramuscularly. MDCF method detected antibody in all inoculated birds except 1 mourning dove, and gave higher titers than did DCF. AGP detected antibody in all inoculated brown-headed cowbirds and all mourning doves, 1 inoculated and 1 exposed great-tailed grackle, and none of the other 2 species. Chlamydiae were apparently transmitted to the uninoculated great-tailed and common grackles and mourning doves, for antibody was detected by all 3 methods in these species kept as uninoculated cagemates.