title: Development of a fast agglutination screening test (FAST) for the detection of anti-Leishmania antibodies in dogs.
abstract: A fast agglutination screening test (FAST) for the detection of anti-Leishmania antibodies in serum samples from dogs with visceral leishmaniosis was developed. The test is based on the direct agglutination test (DAT), but combines a higher parasite concentration with a smaller test volume. In contrast to the DAT, the FAST makes use of only one serum dilution and the results can be read within 3 h as opposed to 18-20 h for the DAT. The FAST was evaluated using serum samples of confirmed cases of the disease and healthy controls collected in the most important endemic regions of canine visceral leishmaniosis, import cases of canine leishmaniosis in a non-endemic country, from non-endemic healthy controls and from dogs with other diseases. The performance of the FAST was compared with standard DAT. In the present study, the FAST had a sensitivity of 93.6% and a specificity of 89.0%. The DAT had a sensitivity of 88.6% and a specificity of 96.7%. Furthermore, using a large panel of serum samples of previously examined DAT positive or negative dogs it was shown that degree of agreement between the two tests was high (95.7%; kappa value = 0.91). The FAST offers the advantages of the DAT based on freeze-dried antigen with respect to stability of the antigen, sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, the FAST allows the rapid screening of a large number of samples, which makes the test very useful for epidemiological screening of large populations of dogs.
authors.affiliation: Koninklijk Institut voor de Tropen, Biomedical Research, Meibergdreef 39, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. h.schallig@kit.nl
authors.forename: H D F H
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Schallig
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Schoone
authors.forename: E G M
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Beijer
authors.forename: C C M
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Kroon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hommers
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozbel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozensoy
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000662:veterinary; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology; D004285:Dogs / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000276:immunology*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan