A comparison of agglutination tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the bovine brucellosis

A total of 710 bovine serum samples which are composed 532 bovine serum samples showed negative reaction and 178 bovine serum samples showed positive reaction with tube agglutination test (TAT) from North area of Gyeong-nam, Korea were tested using all the 3 assays which are Rose-Bengal test(RBT), tube agglutination test (TAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA, two types) and analyzed for evaluation of specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility and predictive value. In the comparison of serum antibody titer agglutination test, RBT showed almost agreement with TAT. In the comparison of TAT and two types of ELISA method, they showed difference in specificity and sensitivity about 5%. But there is no significant difference in detecting sensitivity between two types of ELISA method and TAT. In serologic tests for bovine brucellosis, the new assay ELISA would be a good candidate for serologic survey for bovine brucellosis in Korea because it is efficient in detecting many test samples quickly. But the serum agglutination tests (RBT, TAT) are more economical and easy assay for detection. In the test of comparison of antibody titer between first day of finding and 10 days after finding by TAT, there was no change in 55% (76/139) of positive cattle.