title: The Brucellin skin test as a tool to discriminate false positive serological reactions in bovine brucellosis.
abstract: Three experiments were performed in order to assess the diagnostic value of the Brucellin allergic skin test (AST) in a brucellosis false positive serological reactions (FPSR) context. First, 1259 cattle from 20 Brucella-free herds in a FPSR area were tested twice with AST to estimate its specificity. Secondly, AST and serological tests (complement fixation test [CFT], tube agglutination test, dithiothreitol-microagglutination test and ELISA) sensitivities were evaluated on 111 cattle positive to the Rose Bengal test (RBT) belonging to 15 Brucella-infected herds. Thirdly, AST was used in a field trial to discriminate FPSR from true brucellosis reactions. AST specificity in non-vaccinated cattle was very high (99.83%; confidence interval 95% [CI95%]: 99.67-99.96%). Skin thickening 72 h post-injection was significantly higher on vaccinated cattle (1.42 vs 0.15 mm). In this sub-population, AST specificity decreased significantly to 78% (CI95%: 68-87%). Individual sensitivity of AST relative to Rose Bengal test was 64% (CI95%: 54-72%), while all infected herds were AST positive (n = 15). When associated with CFT, it detected 95% (CI95%: 90-98%) of the infected cattle. These results were consistent with the field trial. In a FPSR context, AST was more specific than RBT or CFT. Therefore, this test could be used at herd level as a confirmation test, on cattle non vaccinated against brucellosis.
authors.affiliation: Unité-épidémiologie, Cneva-Alfort, Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pouillot
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Garin-Bastuji
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gerbier
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Coche
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cau
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moutou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002002:Brucella / Q000276:immunology; D002007:Brucellosis, Bovine / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D002417:Cattle; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D012882:Skin Tests / Q000662:veterinary*