DEVELOPMENT OF DIAGNOSTIC PROTOCOL FOR RIEMERELLOSIS IN DUCKS
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Date
2022-03-08
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COLLEGE OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES MANNUTHY, THRISSUR, KERALA VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY
Abstract
Riemerellosis or new duck disease is a bacterial disease caused by Riemerella anatipestifer affecting ducks and is accountable for massive mortality and low production rates. Effective prevention of the disease lies with prompt diagnosis and timely treatment, as vaccination against riemerellosis is not widely practised yet. The present study focussed on development of field-oriented diagnostic tests which are rapid, easy and cost-effective as opposed to the current diagnostic methods which are time consuming and expensive. Four diagnostic assays were standardised, viz., latex agglutination test (LAT) and dot-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (Dot-ELISA), to detect antibodies, indirect immunoperoxidase test (IPT) and indirect immunofluorescence test (IFT) as antigen detection tests against riemerellosis. The local isolate of R. anatipestifer, RA1, preserved in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy was utilised in the experimental study. The outer membrane protein (Omp) of the organism was used as antigen in the development of antibody detection tests and its efficacy was compared with indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Whereas, the efficacy of antigen detection tests were compared to the
gold standard method, isolation and identification of the organism. The study revealed that, though the antibody detection tests were capable of detecting antibodies against riemerellosis, indirect ELISA was more effective in that aspect and LAT detected antibodies better than Dot-ELISA. The IPT and IFT were standardised by experimental inoculation of RA1 to ducklings and was found to be equally efficient as that of isolation and identification of the bacteria. In conclusion, though LAT and Dot-ELISA were easy, rapid and cost effective, they cannot be used as sole diagnostic methods but could effectively support clinical and necropsy findings to arrive at a diagnosis. The IPT and IFT were time consuming like isolation and identification but the results were easily read and interpreted and IPT was found to be more advantageous, as it did not require expensive equipment and also provided a permanent record of results