Brucellosis, which causes infertility and abortions in animals and human beings, is a largely under-diagnosed zoonotic disease posing a major challenge to veterinarians and medical professionals.
A zoonotic disease could be transmitted from animals to people or, more specifically, a disease that normally exists in animals, but that can infect humans. There are multitudes of zoonotic diseases.
Now, the Translational Research Platform for Veterinary Biologicals (TRPVB), a unique partnership programme between the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), has developed a highly sensitive, specific and affordable Enzyme Linked Immune Sorbent Assay (ELISA) for diagnosing the disease.
The kit was released at the International Research Conference on Brucellosis 2016, held last week at New Delhi, by the Minister of State for Science and Technology Y. S. Chowdary. Vice-Chancellor of TANUVAS Dr. S. Thilagar was also present.
Sensitive and specific
“It offers a new ray of hope for diagnosing the disease. The available assays used for diagnosis lack in sensitivity and specificity. This test has 100 per cent sensitivity and specificity to the culture method. The price of the kit is also very cheap. While imported kits cost around Rs 35,000, our kit is available for Rs 4,000,” said Dr G. Dinakar, TRPVB’s Project Director.
Brucellosis is caused by the bacterial genus Brucella. Sheep, pigs, cattle and dogs are susceptible to specific Brucella species.
The bacteria are transmitted from animals to humans by ingestion through infected food products, and direct contact with an infected animal.
The disease is also known as Mediterranean fever, Malta fever, gastric remittent fever or undulant fever.
Symptoms include fever along with severe body and joint pain that will persist for many days or even months, which is normally ignored as a ‘regular fever’. Slaughterhouse workers are found to be a high risk group, and medical professionals and veterinarians attending to abortions are also exposed to the disease. Its incidence in animals causes significant economic loss to the country.
Collaborative research
The kit has been co-developed with INGENASA, a Spain-based laboratory dedicated to research, development and marketing of products designed for the diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases, especially those affecting animal health. “We got monoclonal antibody from INGENASA and all other ingredients have been developed by us in our laboratory,” said Dr. Dinakar.
In the ongoing project, the test has been validated on the Indian cattle population and the cut-off value determined as ‘40 per cent inhibition’.
“Compared with the Rose Bengal Plate Agglutination Test (RBPT), it has more than 90 per cent sensitivity and specificity. The same kit can also be used for humans,” Dr. Dinakar said.
Preliminary evaluation of the kit has been done on human samples at the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research, Chennai, and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences, Bengaluru, with promising results.
