title: A rapid slide agglutination test for the serodiagnosis of Brucella canis infection that employs a variant (M-) organism as antigen.
abstract: An improved antigen is described for use in the serodiagnosis of canine brucellosis. The novel antigen employs a less mucoid (M-) variant of B. canis. The replacement of Brucella ovis with B. canis (M-) cells as antigen in slide agglutination tests would increase accuracy by reducing the rate of false positive results from ca. 50% to ca. 10%. Rose bengal stained B. canis (M-) cells are slightly more sensitive than the commercially available Brucella ovis as slide test antigens. Both test procedures require brief (less than 1 min) reaction with 2-mercaptoethanol in order to reduce the rate of false positive reactions.
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D002002:Brucella / Q000276:immunology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D004285:Dogs
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial