ELISA TESTS FOR ANTIBODIES IN EXPERIMENTAL BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS

It was shown that 10(4) cfu of a field isolate of Mycobacterium bovis caused illness in five experimentally infected calves; one of these died. One of three contact calves also became clinically infected. Considerable variation in the humoral response of the affected animals was demonstrated by ELISAs using purified protein derivative (PPD) and phosphatide antigens. The inoculation of antigens used in the comparative tuberculin skin test significantly enhanced the level of PPD antibodies in the affected animals whereas that of the apparently non-infected contact animals remained unchanged.