Designing of Western Blot Technique for Glanders Diagnosing in Iran

ABSTRACT Burkholderia mallei is the etiologic agent of glanders. It is difficult to diagnose this zoonotic disease in its early stages. Some methods such as the complement fixation test (CFT) cause some problems for veterinary authorities and financial losses to animal owners due to false positive results. The mallein test requires appropriate laboratory equipment and skilled personnel. To quickly and accurately diagnose the disease, especially in areas where animals cannot be kept, new methods (such as the Western blot test (WBT) should be used to identify the disease. This study designed and optimized the Western blot (immunoblot) test using sera from 84 glanderous equids, and the sensitivity and specificity of ELISA and CFT were compared with the WBT. ELISA tests are based on B. mallei antigens whereas a purified lipopolysaccharide-containing B. mallei-antigen is used in the WBT. The sensitivity and specificity of the tests were estimated using the cut-off values recommended by the test developers. The WBT and ELISA were significantly more specific than the CFT. The ELISA based on B. mallei antigens was significantly less sensitive than the CFT. Given their comparable sensitivities and specificities, the CFT (95.7%, 98.5%), the WBT (95%, 100%), and the ELISA (85%, 100%) should be further developed. The CFT is still the prescribed technique for serological investigation of equids for trade purposes to certify individual animals without glanders. Therefore, more efforts should be made to further improve and optimize the WBT and ELISA tests.