A microplate enzyme immunoassay for detecting and measuring antibodies to Babesia bovis in cattle serum

A microplate enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is described for measuring IgG antibody to Babesia bovis in cattle serum. B. Bovis antibody status (whether positive or negative) and the amount of B. Bovis antibody (EIA score), were measured by comparison with reference serums. The EIA was shown to be specific for B. Bovis, and EIA score correlated well with EIA titre. Comparison of EIA with the Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Test (IFAT) showed more than 95% agreement between the methods and disagreement in only 1.6% of serum samples tested. The remaining 3.2% were positive by EIA and suspected positive by IFAT. The EIA was shown, by titrating positive serums, to be more sensitive than IFAT, which explained its tendency to detect more positive serums than IFAT. EIA detected B. bovis antibody in experimentally infected cattle by day 14 post infection (pi) and for at least 268 days pi. EIA score for B. bovis antibody in immune cattle increased significantly (p less than 0.05) following heterologous strain challenge.