Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2023 February, 259(4)

Investigation of Brucella canis and Brucella abortus Seropositivity by In-House Rapid Slide Agglutination Test and In-House ELISA in Northern Cyprus

Kaya Süer,¹ Meryem Güvenir,² Aslı Aykaç,³ Emrah Güler,⁴ Murat Sayan,^5,6 Tamer Şanlıdağ⁵ and Sevil Erdenliğ Gürbilek⁷

¹Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
²Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Cyprus Health and Social Sciences University, Guzelyurt, Cyprus
³Department of Biophysic, Faculty of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
⁴Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, European University of Lefke, Lefke, Cyprus
⁵DESAM Research Institute, Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
⁶Clinical Laboratory, PCR Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey
⁷Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Harran University, Harran, Turkey

The incidence of Brucella canis (B. canis) in humans is unknown in Northern Cyprus. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of B. canis and Brucella abortus (B. abortus) infection in human sera and evaluated the results obtained by agglutination-based techniques using standardized antigens made from B. canis comparatively. All of the subjects were negative in terms of Rose-Bengal plate test. Undiluted serum samples were initially screened by rapid slide agglutination test (RSAT), and those which were found positive were retested in the dilution of 1/25-1/200. Confirmation of the positive results was performed by using 2-mercaptoethanol standard agglutination test (SAT). The test antigen was prepared from the less mucoid M (−) variant of B. canis, and 1/1,048 titered dog antiserum was used as positive control. In 225 serum samples, 3.6% (8/225) was positive by B. canis M (−) RSAT, 4.4 % (10/225) was positive by B. canis M (−) indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA). 5.3% (12/225) was positive by B. abortus S99 RSAT and 9.8% (22/225) was positive by B. abortus S99 iELISA. Nine samples were positive by both B. abortus S99 RSAT and B. abortus S99 iELISA. Seven samples were positive by both B. canis M (−) RSAT and B. canis M (−) iELISA. One patient was positive by all methods. It is important to evaluate patient samples with RSAT and iELISA. Until the notification system gives better results to the Ministry of Health, in order to reach the real data for Northern Cyprus, multicenter prevalence determination studies should be done for future.

Keywords —— Brucella abortus; Brucella canis; brucellosis; ELISA; In-house; Northern Cyprus

© 2023 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med 2023, 259, 319-326.

Correspondence: Emrah Güler, Ph.D., Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, European University of Lefke, Lefke, Nothern 99728, Cyprus.

e-mail: eguler@eul.edu.tr