Kanaujia Ganga V, Garcia Manuel A, Bouley Donna M, Peters Robert, Gennaro Maria Laura
Public Health Research Institute, 225 Warren Street, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA.
Comp Med. 2003 Dec;53(6):602-6.
Tuberculosis is one of the most economically devastating, zoonotic infections of captive non-human primates. The limitations of the tuberculin skin test, which is currently used to diagnose tuberculosis in living non-human primates, make it necessary to find new, simple, and economical diagnostic methods. We describe use of an enzyme-linked immunoassay to detect IgG antibodies against early secretory antigenic target (ESAT)-6, a small protein secreted by virulent tubercle bacilli, in paired (pre- and post-outbreak) sera from 57 non-human primates involved in an outbreak of Mycobacterium bovis infection in a research colony. Of 25 animals with tuberculosis lesions at necropsy, 22 (88%) had high serum levels of the ESAT-6 antibody. The ESAT-6 antibody was found in 16% (5/32) of post-outbreak sera from animals in which tuberculosis could not be confirmed at necropsy. The strong association between the ESAT-6 antibody and tuberculosis in non-human primates documented in this study, together with the robustness of the serologic assay, make the ESAT-6 ELISA a valuable tool for diagnosis of tuberculosis in captive non-human primates.
结核病是圈养非人灵长类动物中最具经济破坏性的人畜共患感染之一。目前用于诊断活体非人灵长类动物结核病的结核菌素皮肤试验存在局限性，因此有必要寻找新的、简单且经济的诊断方法。我们描述了使用酶联免疫吸附测定法，来检测57只参与研究群体中牛分枝杆菌感染爆发的非人灵长类动物配对（爆发前和爆发后）血清中针对早期分泌性抗原靶标（ESAT）-6的IgG抗体，ESAT-6是一种由有毒结核杆菌分泌的小蛋白。在尸检时有结核病变的25只动物中，22只（88%）血清ESAT-6抗体水平较高。在尸检时无法确诊结核病的动物爆发后血清中，16%（5/32）检测到ESAT-6抗体。本研究记录的ESAT-6抗体与非人灵长类动物结核病之间的强关联，以及血清学检测的稳健性，使得ESAT-6酶联免疫吸附测定成为诊断圈养非人灵长类动物结核病的有价值工具。
