title: A comparative study of Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in mink using a modified agglutination test, a Western blot, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.
abstract: Toxoplasma gondii can infect almost all warm-blooded animals, and many serological methods have been developed to detect T. gondii infection in a variety of animal species. In the present study, the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection in farmed mink in northeast China was determined using the modified agglutination test (MAT), a Western blot (WB), and 3 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) with protein A/G conjugate, using either of 2 recombinant dense granule antigens, GRA1 and GRA7, or Toxoplasma soluble antigens (TSA). There was no significant difference between the detection results of the GRA1-, GRA7-, and TSA-ELISAs and WB (McNemar chi-square, P > 0.05), but a significant difference was observed between MAT and WB (P < 0.05). A near perfect agreement (97.0%) was found between the GRA7-ELISA and WB (κ = 0.83), and a substantial agreement (92.4-93.1%) was observed in the TSA- and GRA1-ELISAs (κ = 0.68-0.73). The GRA7-ELISA showed the highest sensitivity and specificity, and the lowest false-positive and negative rates, while the MAT gave both a low sensitivity and frequent false positives in comparison to the WB. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed the largest area under curve of 0.85 (95% confidence interval: 0.74-0.96), and the highest relative sensitivity (72.7%) and specificity (99.0%) for a cutoff value of 0.19 in the GRA7-ELISA. These results indicate that the GRA7-ELISA is suitable for detection of T. gondii infection in mink and that MAT should be used with caution.
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Zedong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Yufeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Xiaoxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei).
authors.forename: Jiping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Military Veterinary Institute, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Gu, Wang, Shang, Li, Liu)College of Life Science, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, Jilin Province, People's Republic of China (Cai, Li, Wei) liuquan1973@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000662:veterinary; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D008907:Mink; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan
keywords: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Toxoplasma gondii; Western blot; mink; modified agglutination test