A complement fixation test for antibody to the contagious equine metritis organism.

The research explored developing a new test called the complement fixation test, similar to a test for brucellosis. This test was designed for identifying the presence of a contagious equine metritis organism in horses’ blood serum. The study found the test could potentially identify chronic carriers of the disease more effectively.

Development Of The Complement Fixation Test (CFT)

• The researchers adapted the Complement Fixation Test (CFT) that was originally used for detecting brucellosis, a different type of infectious disease, to use for the detection of contagious equine metritis (CEM) in horses.
• While moderating the CFT for brucellosis, they found that it could also apply to CEM, opening new development paths for detection tools specific for equine diseases.

Testing on Horses

• The developed CFT was applied to a group of 50 horses considered unexposed to the CEM organism. Their test results were negative, though five showed inconclusive reactions.
• In a different group of 41 mares known to be infected or from an infected stud, the CFT results showed a variety of outcomes: 21 were positive, 11 inconclusive, and nine were negative.

Comparison with Other Tests

• The researchers compared the results of the CFT with two other tests used for the same disease —the Serum Agglutination Test (SAT) and Antiglobulin Test (AGT).
• The comparison aimed at validating the efficiency of the developed CFT and its alignment with the already approved detection tools.

Chronic Carrier State Diagnosis

• The study found that with the use of CFT, complement fixing antibodies—proteins that fight off organisms such as bacteria and viruses—tended to remain present in the infected animal for a longer period
• This makes the CFT a potentially more effective diagnostic tool for the identification of the chronic (long-term) carrier state of the disease.