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Comparative Evaluation of ELISA Tests for Bovine Tuberculosis Detection: Implications for Improved Disease Control
Carlos Eugênio S Vidal1, Ingrid Ieda F Souza2, Carlos Alberto N Ramos3
1Regional Technical Unit for Agriculture and Livestock of Santa Maria, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, agricultura.gov.br.
Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
|February 27, 2026
Summary
Accurate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) diagnosis is challenging. Antibody tests, like ELISAs, can complement cell-mediated immune response tests, detecting more infected cattle and improving disease control strategies.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Immunology
- Bacteriology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) diagnosis relies heavily on cell-mediated immune (CMI) response tests, such as the comparative cervical intradermal tuberculin test (CCITT), which have limited sensitivity, especially in advanced infection stages.
- Antibody-based assays, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), present a potential complementary diagnostic approach to improve the identification of bTB cases in cattle.
Purpose of the Study:
- To comparatively evaluate two indirect ELISA tests for detecting antibodies against *Mycobacterium bovis* in cattle from Southern Brazil.
- To assess the performance of an experimental chimeric antigen ELISA against a commercially available ELISA registered with the WOAH.
Main Methods:
- Serum samples were collected from 147 cattle across nine herds with known bTB epidemiological histories.
- Animals were tested using CCITT, and a subset underwent post-mortem examination, culture, and nested-PCR for confirmation.
- Two indirect ELISAs were employed: one experimental (chimeric antigen: MPB70, MPB83, ESAT-6) and one commercial (MPB70, MPB83).
Main Results:
- The experimental ELISA detected 16.6% seropositivity, and the commercial ELISA detected 13.0%, both higher than the 4.4% apparent prevalence by CCITT.
- Both ELISAs demonstrated low sensitivity (<30%) against culture/PCR-confirmed cases but identified additional infected animals missed by CCITT.
- The study identified a higher prevalence of bTB antibodies using serological methods compared to the traditional CCITT.
Conclusions:
- Serological tests, particularly ELISAs, can serve as valuable complementary tools for enhancing bovine tuberculosis detection in cattle.
- Integrating ELISA results with CMI tests can improve surveillance and inform more effective bTB eradication strategies in endemic regions.
- Further research into optimized antigen combinations and assay standardization is warranted to improve sensitivity and specificity in bTB diagnostics.
