Abstract:
Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is caused by Mycoplasma mycuides subspecies
mycoides subtype Small Colony (MmmSC). It is an important disease of cattle in Afiica,
currently reported in many countries on the continent. The serological tests for diagnosis
include Complement fixation test (CFT) and Competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent
assay (c-ELISA). These tests are laboratory based, take hours to give results and require
specialized personnel to interpret the results. Latex Agglutination Test (LAT) was developed
for the specific diagnosis of CBPP by coating latex microspheres with MmmSC antigen,
which detects antibodies in samples from CBPP infected cattle. The test is cheap and takes
about two minutes in the field This new pen side test will assist field staff in administrative
decisions while awaiting laboratory confirmation of the disease. Comparisons between LAT
and the complement fixation test (CFT) were made by using 180 field sera from CBPP-
infected zone in detecting antibodies to MmmSC. Using CFT as the gold standard and a 2 x 2
contingency table, the two tests were compared in terms of their sensitivity and specificity in
detecting antibodies to MmmSC. The results showed the specificity of LAT was 41.2% and
the sensitivity was 68%. The percentage of seropositive samples for CFT (14%) and for LAT
(60%) showed a higher detection in LAT for positive sera There were 81 samples out of the
total 180 samples tested that gave similar results for both CFT and LAT. The observed
agreement between CFT and LAT was low at 45%, although the LAT was found to be more
sensitive than the CFT. This results leads to the conclusion that LAT is not sufficient on its
own for all the needs of the diagnosis of CBPP, but should be used in combination with c-
ELISA or CFT to confimi a disease outbreak in the field.
