The role of the differential complement fixation test, using rough and smooth brucella antigens, in the anamnestic...

To assess the ability of the differential complement fixation test to distinguish vaccinal reactors from infected cattle, approximately 1,000 heifers were tested by the complement fixation test (CFT) using rough and smooth brucella antigens, before the injection of 45/20 vaccine and at 3 and 6 or 10 weeks after vaccination. Before vaccination 91.5% of heifers were negative to the rough antigen but 0.6% were positive with high titre (greater than or equal to 128). By 10 weeks after injection of 45/20 vaccine 97.6% of heifers were positive to the rough CF antigen, at greater than or equal to 8, a majority reaching greater than or equal to 128. Nineteen pre-vaccinal reactors to the standard CFT were killed and Brucella abortus was isolated from the tissues of 14. Twenty-six post-vaccinal reactors were killed and B. abortus was isolated from the tissues of 8. In the 22 B. abortus infected animals the differential CFT classified 9 correctly as infected, 5 incorrectly as vaccination reactions and 8 as inconclusive. The differential CF was ineffective in distinguishing titres resulting from vaccination with 45/20 vaccine from those due to infection.