Monoclonal antibody based immunoassays for the detection of circulating antigens of Trypanosoma evansi in buffaloes

The present study reports the development and use of monoclonal antibody- based latex agglutination test (mAb-LAT) and antigen-detection ELISA (Ag-ELISA) for detection of Trypanosoma evansi infected buffaloes. MAb was produced for the first time against a surface antigen of an Indian isolate of T. evansi and used in development of mAb- LAT and Ag-ELISA for screening 285 buffalo sera samples collected from different regions of Haryana state in India during 2005 and 2006. For comparison, wet blood film (WBF) and microhematocrit technique (MHCT) were also used to detect the parasite in the blood samples from the same animals. Far more buffalo samples were declared positive by mAb-LAT and Ag-ELISA than those by WBF and MHCT. MAb-LAT was found to be a suitable fieldadaptable test for screening of large number of animals for T. evansi infections.