Correlation between mycoplasmas excretion and antibodies kinetics detected by complement fixation test, passive haemagglutination test and slide agglutination serum test during an experimental infection of cattle with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony variant

Abstract

During an experimental reproduction of CBPP, 5 inoculated cows and 5 contacts cows were bled twice a week and antibodies research was performed using complement fixation test (CFT), passive haemagglutination test (PHAT) and slide agglutination test (SAT). In the same period, trachobronchial washings were performed weekly to detect
and to Count Mycopasma mycoides subsp. mycoides SC. For four months these tests were used to compare antibodies kinetics with kinetics of mycoplasmas excretion. With titer over 40 as threshold of positivity, PHAT detects antibodies earlier than CFI and SAT at the beginning of infection, but fails to detect chronic carriers. In contacts cows no failure has been observed with CFT and SAT except during prodromic phase of infection. These results are valid for natural infections. However, for inoculated animais, most serious failures to detect infected cows occur.