Identification of cultured Aeromonas salmonicida by an indirect dot blot immunoassay

Abstract. A method is described which improves both the specificity and paracticability of immune identification of Aeromonas salmonicida. The modified assay employs antisera raised against outer membrane proteins (OMP) of A. salmonicida cells and is carried out as a dot blot test on nitrocellulose membranes. Performance of the test with 55 non- A. salmonicida bacterial isolates from fish and water revealed weak cross reactivity in five cases. However, these cross reactive only occur at very high antigen concentrations and can be overcome by adequate dilution.