Abstract
Canine brucellosis caused by Brucella canis is a zoonotic infectious disease that is common worldwide. This infection is not registered in Ukraine, due to the lack of diagnostic tools. One of the available laboratory diagnostic methods is the agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID), which is recommended for testing of dogs with suspected brucellosis. The objective of the work was to identify an antigen for AGID to detectantibodies against B. canis. The study was conducted using thermo-extract R- antigen with 4×109 CFU of Brucella ovis 67/B strain. Reference anti-B. canis serum was used as a reference positive sample that was kindly provided by Claire Ponsart (ANSES). Antigen tests were performed by AGID according to George and Carmichael (1978) using field sera (n=547) taken from stray dogs from five regions of Ukraine. For comparison purposes, these samples were also tested using commercial C. Brucella Ab Test Kit / Rapid Test Kit (Bionote, Republic of Korea). The antigen was made by thermo-extraction of Brucella ovis 67/B. The determination of the resulting antigen activity was studied by AGID using the reference anti-B. canis serum in dilutions from 1:5 to 1:40. It was found that the minimum dilution at which a precipitation line was detected in agar is 1:20 in all repetitions. Furthermore, 54 (9.87%) samples of blood serum from dogs were positive, which indicated the circulation of B. canis in stray animals. All AGID positive samples were also confirmed using commercial C. Brucella Ab Test Kit / Rapid Test Kit. Our studies have shown the suitability of the obtained thermo-extracted R- antigen from B. ovis 67/B strain for its use in AGID to detect antibodies against B. canis. We also found a high seroprevalence of canine brucellosis among stray animals in Ukraine that may require the introduction of wide monitoring among domestic dogs.
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