Evaluation of four immunoassays for diagnosis of brucellosis in Cuba

Four immunoassays (two indirect and two competitive ones) were evaluated by samples from areas free of disease, free by vaccination and affected areas using as reference techniques the Bengal Rose Tests, the Antigen in Buffered Plate Tests and the Complement Fixation Reaction Test. The evaluated samples demonstrated that the competitive assays (ELISAC-1 and ELISAC-2) detected less false positives than the indirect ones (ELISAI-1 and ELISAI-2). Of the competitive ELISAS, version 2 presented better sensitivity and specificity results in affected areas for 95% confidence: 80.9 - 96.9% and 97.5 - 99.4% respectively with positive predictive value in the range of 76 to 94% and negative predictive one between 98.1 and 99.7%. It was concluded that this assay can be used for brucellosis control because it gives higher assurance than the other evaluated immunoassays and it can discriminate infected from vaccinated animals. (author)