Seroprevalence of caprine brucellosis in Karnataka

Aim: To study the seroprevalence of caprine bruellosis in Karnataka and compare the relative sensitivity and specificity among the different serological tests used. Materials and Methods: A total of 252 serum samples were collected from the goats of Karnataka and subjected to 5 different serological tests, i.e., Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT), Standard Tube Agglutination Test (STAT), 2-mercaptoethanol test (2MET), Indirect ELISA (I-ELISA) and Dot-ELISA to detect the Brucella antibodies. Results: Test-wise, the seroprevalence in goats was 5.15% by RBPT, 6.34% by STAT, 1.98% by 2-MET, 9.52% by I-ELISA and 7.14% by Dot-ELISA. The prevalence of brucellosis was found to be highest among goats of northeast Karnataka followed by northwest Karnataka, central Karnataka and south Karnataka. I-ELISA detected maximum number of positive samples. Conclusions: The study used five serological tests to determine the apparent seroprevalence of caprine brucellosis in Karnataka. Taking I-ELISA as reference, the tests revealed the relative sensitivity values in the following order: DotELISA>STAT>RBPT>2-MET.