title: Serologic methods for detection of Pasteurella multocida infections in nasal culture negative rabbits.
abstract: An agar gel-diffusion test (AGDT) and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were utilized to detect serum antibodies against Pasteurella multocida in naturally infected rabbits derived originally from a Pasteurella-free colony. The antigen used in both assays was purified from a serotype 3 (P-1059) strain of P. multocida. Among 47 serum samples tested 15 (32%) were seropositive; 12 (26%) of which were both AGDT and ELISA-positive, while 3 (6%) were ELISA-positive only. All rabbits examined were normal clinically and negative to repeated nasal cultures, but subsequent cultures at necropsy demonstrated the presence of P. multocida in 11 of the AGDT-positive rabbits and in 14 of the ELISA-positive rabbits. The organism was isolated most frequently from the naso-oropharynx and the tympanic bullae. Serotyping of isolates recovered from the nasopharynx were determined to be serotype 3 or 3,12. Ten seronegative rabbits also were necropsied and none were found harboring P. multocida. These preliminary data indicate that the application of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay may prove efficacious in identifying apparently healthy, consistently nasal culture-negative rabbits as subclinical carriers of P. multocida.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005779:Immunodiffusion / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D010325:Pasteurella / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010326:Pasteurella Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011817:Rabbits; D012703:Serotyping