A passive haemagglutination test for the detection of antibodies to the contagious equine metritis organism.

The research paper is about the development of a testing method, known as Passive Haemagglutination Test (PHT), that can detect antibodies to the contagious equine metritis organism (CEMO) in horse serum.

Introduction

• Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is a highly infectious disease found in horses, caused by CEMO, a bacteria-like microorganism. Detection of this disease is important for controlling its spread.
• The researchers have developed a Passive Haemagglutination Test (PHT) to detect antibodies to CEMO in equine (horse) serum, the fluid part of blood without cells.

Method and Results

• During the study, serum samples were collected from 269 horses, including 30 mares with metritis (inflammation of the uterus generally due to infection), 239 clinically healthy mares, and 30 young unexposed horses (colts and fillies).
• The test detected antibodies to CEMO in all the 30 samples taken from mares with metritis; with antibody levels (titres) ranging from 256 to 4096, indicating a positive result for CEM.
• None of the samples obtained from the 239 clinically normal mares or the 30 colts and fillies showed significant levels of CEMO antibodies. The antibody titre in these samples was less than 256, which is considered a negative result, with 97% of these samples having a titre of 32 or less.

Conclusion

• On the basis of these results, researchers suggest that PHT could be a reliable method to identify horses that have been exposed to the contagious equine metritis organism (CEMO). The clear distinction between the clinically ill mares (positive results) and the healthy or unexposed horses (negative results) provided by PHT supports its potential usability in a clinical context.