Application of the indirect enzyme-labeled antibody microtest to the detection and surveillance of animal diseases.

The rapid, indirect enzyme-labeled antibody (ELA) microplate test has been developed as a diagnostic and surveillance tool to aid in the control of animal disease. The test has been applied to viral (hog cholera), parasitic (trichinosis), and bacterial (brucellosis) diseases of animals. A correlation of greater than 95% was observed between the hog cholera ELA test and the serum neutralization test for hog cholera in greater than 2,000 field samples obtained during the 1976 epizootic in New Jersey. Serum samples from all of 56 swine naturally infected with Trichinella spiralis at a level considered dangerous to humans were ELA-positive, whereas only one of 360 packinghouse sera negative for T. spiralis was ELA-positive. Preliminary experiments with bovine brucellosis (Brucella abortus) indicate that the ELA test is more sensitive than other test methods currently in use. ELA procedures should soon become tests of choice for the detection of antibodies to animal disease agents.