Serodiagnosis

of

 Bovine Protothecal Mastitis

There is an indirect ELISA for the detection of specific anti-Prototheca-antibodies in whey which is based on the whole cell antigen of P. zopfii SAG 2021 which was isolated from a case of acute bovine mastitis. The antibody activities are calculated as ELISA units (EU) using the positive reference standard method.

Due to the very low cutoff-value the test has a high sensitivity and specificity. Since intermittent shedders of the algae cannot be detected by cultural investigation, the identification of intermittent shedders is the main advantage of this serological test system. For example, animals 2, 7, and 8 are unequivocal Prototheca-positive in the ELISA shown above.

Reference: Roesler, U., H. Scholz, and Hensel A. (2001): Immunodiagnostic identification of dairy cows infected with Prototheca zopfii at various clinical stages and discrimination between infected and uninfected cows. J.Clin.Microbiol. 39:539-543.