Serological crossreactivity between Brucella abortus and Yersinia enterocolitica 0:9 III. Specificity of the in vitro antigen-specific gamma interferon test for bovine brucellosis diagnosis in experimentally Yersinia enterocolitica 0:9-infected cattle

The course of immunological reaction in 10 Yersinia enterocolitica 0:9 experimentally-infected heifers was followed using the conventional brucellosis tests complement fixation test (CFT), serum agglutination test (SAT) and brucella card test (BCT), and a recently developed Brucella antigen-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ) test. Initially, the animals were exposed orally to 10¹⁰ colony-forming units (CFU) of Y. enterocolitica 0:9. Four weeks later, they were inoculated intravenously with 10⁸ CFU of Y. enterocolitica 0:9 cells. After oral inoculation, the response in the conventional brucellosis tests was minimal. Only after intravenous inoculation were CFT and SAT titres and BCT reactions comparable to natural, false positive brucellosis reactors. After oral exposure the Brucellergen-stimulated release of IFN-γ peaked at values above the cut-off stimulation index of 2.5 in 80% of the heifers. After intravenous inoculation, stimulation indices above 2.5 were present in only 10% of the animals. Two B. abortus infected control cattle showed stimulation indices of 3.1 and 3.4, and a negative control animal exhibited a stimulation index of 1.0. These findings show, in contrast to a previous study, that the Brucellergen-specific IFN-γ assay cannot be used as a specific and discriminatory test for B. abortus infections.