DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF AN INDIRECT ELISA TO DETECT ANTIBODIES TO ABORTION STRAINS OF CHLAMYDIA-PSITTACI IN SHEEP SERA

A novel indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) for antibodies against abortion strains of Chlamydia psittaci (C. psittaci) has been developed. The antigen used was chlamydial elementary bodies treated sequentially with N-lauroyl sarcosine and n-octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside and finally solubilized with N-lauroyl sarcosine and dithiothreitol. Treating the antigen with sodium periodate after coating of the plates increased the specificity for antibodies to abortion strains. The test was evaluated initially with sera from experimentally infected sheep and an uninfected control group. These sheep were monitored for lambing performance and infection status. When used in conjunction with the indirect micro-immunofluorescence test (MIF), the ELISA was able to identify as negative all twenty-five sera from ewes that had no typical placental lesions and identified as positive twenty of twenty-one sera from infected ewes that had either typical placental lesions or had been found positive by isolation of chlamydia in cell culture. The combination of ELISA and MIF was also able to discriminate correctly groups of sera from six flocks with a history of infection from four known uninfected flocks.