Development of a rapid immunobinding test for Mycoplasma bovis cultural isolates in the genital tract of heifers

An immunobinding test was developed on nitrocellulose paper with monoclonal antibody to diagnose Mycoplasma bovis in cultural isolates from the genital tract of artificially-infected heifers; polymerase chain reaction was used as the gold standard.The sensitivity of the immunobinding test was 5x103 colony-forming units, and was highly specific since there were no cross-reactions with other strains of Mycoplasma or Acholeplasma. Epidemiological sensitivity was 96.43%, epidemiological specificity 100.00%, positive predictive values 100.00%, and negative predictive values were 100.00%. There were no significant differences in diagnostic validity values between the immunobinding test and the PCR test (P>0.05). Thus, the immunobinding test is a reliable and alternative laboratory diagnostic technique for the M. bovis infection of the reproductive tract in female cattle under experimental conditions; however, it should be field tested in order to entirely evaluate the diagnostic validity of the procedure.