Literaturdatenbank
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Wendland, L. D., Zacher, L. A., Klein, P. A., Brown, D. R., Demcowitz, D., Littell, R., & Brown, M. B. (2007). An improved enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for mycoplasma agassizii exposure: a valuable tool in the management of environmentally sensitive tortoise populations. Clinical and vaccine immunology, 14(9), 1190–1195.
Added by: Admin (14 Aug 2008 20:33:48 UTC) |
| Resource type: Journal Article BibTeX citation key: Wendland2007 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Bakterien = bacteria, Einzeller = protozoa, Gopherus, Gopherus agassizii, Gopherus polyphemus, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Testudinidae, Veterinärmedizin = veterinary medicine Creators: Brown, Brown, Demcowitz, Klein, Littell, Wendland, Zacher Collection: Clinical and vaccine immunology |
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| Abstract |
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Testudinidae The precarious status of desert (Gopherus agassizii) and gopher (Gopherus polyphemus) tortoises has resulted in research and conservation efforts that include health assessments as a substantial component of management decision-making. Therefore it is critical that available diagnostic tests for diseases impacting these species undergo rigorous standardization and validation. Since 1992, analysis of exposure of tortoises to Mycoplasma agassizii, an etiological agent of upper respiratory tract disease (URTD), has relied on detection of specific M. agassizzi antibody by ELISA. We report here substantive refinements in the diagnostic assay and discuss the implications of its use in wildlife conservation and management. The ELISA has been refined to include more stringent quality control measures and has been converted to a clinically more meaningful titer reporting system, consistent with other diagnostic serologic tests. The ELISA results for 5,954 desert and gopher tortoises were plotted, and a subset of these serum samples (n= 90) was used to determine end point titers, to establish an optimum serum dilution for analyzing samples, and to construct a standard curve. The relationship between titer and A405 was validated using 77 sera samples from known positive (n=48) and negative (n=29) control tortoises from prior transmission studies. The Youden index, J, and the optimal cut-point, c, were estimated using ELISA results from the 77 control sera. Based on this evaluation, the refinement has substantially improved the performance of the assay (sensitivity= 0.98, specificity= 0.99, J= 0.98), thus providing a clinically more reliable diagnostic test for this important infection of tortoises.
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