Assessing the Immunochromatographic Test Strip for Serological Detection of Bovine Babesiosis in Uganda

• Main Authors: Dickson Stuart Tayebwa, Amany Magdy Beshbishy, Gaber El-Saber Batiha, Mariam Komugisha, Byaruhanga Joseph, Patrick Vudriko, Ramadan Yahia, Luay Alkazmi, Helal F. Hetta, Naoaki Yokoyama, Ikuo Igarashi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Microorganisms
• Subjects: bovine babesiosis; ELISA; ICT; <i>B. bigemina</i> C-terminal rhoptry-associated protein (RAP-1/CT17); <i>B. bovis</i> spherical body protein-4 (SBP-4)
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/8/8/1110

In Uganda, bovine babesiosis continues to cause losses to the livestock industry because of shortages of cheap, quick, and reliable diagnostic tools to guide prescription measures. In this study, the presence of antibodies to <i>Babesia bigemina</i> and <i>Babesia bovis</i> in 401 bovine blood samples obtained from eastern and central areas of Uganda were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and immunochromatographic test strips (ICTs). The ELISA and ICT test used targeted the <i>B. bigemina</i> C-terminal rhoptry-associated protein (RAP-1/CT17) and <i>B. bovis</i> spherical body protein-4 (SPB-4). Using ELISA, single-ICT and dual-ICT, positive samples for <i>B. bovis</i> were detected in 25 (6.2%), 17 (4.3%), and 14 (3.7%) samples respectively, and positive samples for <i>B. bigemina</i> were detected in 34 (8.4%), 27 (6.7%), and 25 (6.2%), respectively. Additionally, a total of 13 animals (3.2%) had a mixed infection. The correlation between ELISA and single-ICT strips results revealed slight agreement with kappa values ranging from 0.088 to 0.191 between both methods, while the comparison between dual-ICT and single-ICT results showed very good agreement with kappa values >0.80. This study documented the seroprevalence of bovine babesiosis in central and eastern Uganda, and showed that ICT could, after further optimization, be a useful rapid diagnostic test for the diagnosis of bovine babesiosis in field settings.