Exploratory Evaluation of the P22 ELISA for Antibody Detection in Fecal Samples from Tuberculosis-Infected Goat Herds.
5 affiliations
- 1VISAVET Health Surveillance Centre, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
- 2Reference and Research Laboratory for Respiratory Virus, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
- 3Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
- 4Centro Nacional de Epidemiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
- 5Unidad de Inmunología Microbiana, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Abstract
Background: Caprine tuberculosis (cTB), caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) represents a significant concern for animal and public health. Antibody-based diagnostic tests have emerged as promising tools to complement ante-mortem official diagnostic techniques in ruminants, which mainly use serum, although alternative, easier-to-collect samples, such as milk, oral fluid, or feces, could also be used. The objective of this exploratory study was to evaluate the reactivity of an in-house P22 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in fecal samples from goats belonging to cTB-infected herds, using serum P22 ELISA and official diagnostic tests as comparators. Methods: Serum and fecal samples were collected from 51 and 42 adult female goats from a high-prevalence herd (n = 149) and a low-prevalence herd (n = 220), respectively, which defecated during sampling. These animals were subjected to official diagnostic techniques: single and comparative intradermal tuberculin tests and the interferon-gamma release assay. As no TB-free herd was available, a preliminary fecal cut-off was established by receiver operating characteristic analysis using serum P22 ELISA as the reference classification. Results: The percentage of positive animals in fecal samples from the high-prevalence herd was 68.6%, while no positive results were observed in the low-prevalence herd. Serum samples showed a higher number of positives in both herds compared to fecal samples (p < 0.05). The agreement between official diagnostic techniques and P22 ELISA (using serum or feces) was slight in general terms. When a combined classification based on all official tests was used as the reference, fecal P22 ELISA detected 58.0% of test-positive goats, none of them in the low-prevalence herd. Conclusions: Under the conditions of this field study (no TB-free controls or post-mortem confirmation of infection were available), fecal P22 ELISA showed limited reactivity compared with serum, particularly in the low-prevalence herd, suggesting limited usefulness for antibody detection in TB infected goats.
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BibTeX
@article{ortega2026exploratory,
title = {{Exploratory Evaluation of the P22 ELISA for Antibody Detection in Fecal Samples from Tuberculosis-Infected Goat Herds.}},
author = {Javier Ortega and Jose A Infantes-Lorenzo and Alberto Gómez-Buendía and Álvaro Roy and Carlos Velasco and Beatriz Romero and Inmaculada Moreno and Mercedes Domínguez and Javier Bezos},
journal = {Veterinary sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/vetsci13101083},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42944176},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Exploratory Evaluation of the P22 ELISA for Antibody Detection in Fecal Samples from Tuberculosis-Infected Goat Herds.
AU - Javier Ortega
AU - Jose A Infantes-Lorenzo
AU - Alberto Gómez-Buendía
AU - Álvaro Roy
AU - Carlos Velasco
AU - Beatriz Romero
AU - Inmaculada Moreno
AU - Mercedes Domínguez
AU - Javier Bezos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - Veterinary sciences
DO - 10.3390/vetsci13101083
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42944176
AB - Background: Caprine tuberculosis (cTB), caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) represents a significant concern for animal and public health. Antibody-based diagnostic tests have emerged as promising tools to complement ante-mortem official diagnostic techniques in ruminants, which mainly use serum, although alternative, easier-to-collect samples, such as milk, oral fluid, or feces, could also be used. The objective of this exploratory study was to evaluate the reactivity of an in-house P22 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in fecal samples from goats belonging to cTB-infected herds, using serum P22 ELISA and official diagnostic tests as comparators. Methods: Serum and fecal samples were collected from 51 and 42 adult female goats from a high-prevalence herd (n = 149) and a low-prevalence herd (n = 220), respectively, which defecated during sampling. These animals were subjected to official diagnostic techniques: single and comparative intradermal tuberculin tests and the interferon-gamma release assay. As no TB-free herd was available, a preliminary fecal cut-off was established by receiver operating characteristic analysis using serum P22 ELISA as the reference classification. Results: The percentage of positive animals in fecal samples from the high-prevalence herd was 68.6%, while no positive results were observed in the low-prevalence herd. Serum samples showed a higher number of positives in both herds compared to fecal samples (p < 0.05). The agreement between official diagnostic techniques and P22 ELISA (using serum or feces) was slight in general terms. When a combined classification based on all official tests was used as the reference, fecal P22 ELISA detected 58.0% of test-positive goats, none of them in the low-prevalence herd. Conclusions: Under the conditions of this field study (no TB-free controls or post-mortem confirmation of infection were available), fecal P22 ELISA showed limited reactivity compared with serum, particularly in the low-prevalence herd, suggesting limited usefulness for antibody detection in TB infected goats.
SN - 2306-7381
ER -