Comparison of Three Serological Methods for the Epidemiological Investigation of TBE in Dogs
Open Access
- 15 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Microorganisms
- Vol. 9 (2), 399
- https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9020399
Abstract
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus is an emerging pathogen that causes severe infections in humans. Infection risk areas are mostly defined based on the incidence of human cases, a method which does not work well in areas with sporadic TBE cases. Thus, sentinel animals may help to better estimate the existing risk. Serological tests should be thoroughly evaluated for this purpose. Here, we tested three test formats to assess the use of dogs as sentinel animals. A total of 208 dog sera from a known endemic area in Southern Germany were tested in an All-Species-ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence assays (IIFA), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sensitivity and specificity for both were determined in comparison to the micro-neutralization test (NT) results. Of all 208 samples, 22.1% tested positive in the micro-NT. A total of 18.3% of the samples showed characteristic fluorescence in the IIFA and were, thus, judged positive. In comparison to the micro-NT, a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 98.8% was obtained. In the ELISA, 19.2% of samples tested positive, with a sensitivity of 84.8% and a specificity of 99.4%. The ELISA is a highly specific test for TBE-antibody detection in dogs and should be well suited for acute diagnostics. However, due to deficits in sensitivity, it cannot replace the NT, at least for epidemiological studies. With even lower specificity and sensitivity, the same applies to IIFA.Keywords
Funding Information
- Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Berlin, Germany (WI244427)
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- Prevalence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Antibodies in Domestic and Game Animals from Eastern PolandBulletin of the Veterinary Institute in Pulawy, 2012
- Rodents as Sentinels for the Prevalence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis VirusVector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2011
- Tick-borne encephalitis virus in dogs - is this an issue?Parasites & Vectors, 2011
- Prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus antibodies in dogs from DenmarkActa Veterinaria Scandinavica, 2009
- Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Mainland ChinaVector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 2008
- Tick-Borne EncephalitisInfectious Disease Clinics of North America, 2008
- Prevalence of TBE antibodies in serum and CSF of dogs with inflammatory and non-inflammatory CNS diseaseInternational Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2002
- Characterization of tick‐borne encephalitis virus from latvia: Evidence for co‐circulation of three distinct subtypesJournal of Medical Virology, 2001
- Tick‐Borne EncephalitisClinical Infectious Diseases, 1999
- Change in phenotype of tick-borne encephalitis virus following passage in Ixodes ricinus ticks and associated amino acid substitution in the envelope proteinVirus Research, 1994