Diagnosis of Salmonella Enteritidis Infection in Broiler Chickens Using Elisa

Abstract

The program for the eradication of Salmonella Enteritidis from chickens was based on bacteriological examination of breeding flocks. There is a great need for a specific and sensitive serological screening test. For that purpose, four different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were developed. These included an indirect ELISA with Salmonella Enteritidis flagellin, an indirect ELISA with Salmonella Enteritidis lipopolysaccharide, a double-antibody sandwich blocking ELISA that uses monoclonal antibodies against Salmonella Enteritidis flagellin (GM-DAS blocking ELISA), and a double-antibody sandwich ELISA that uses monoclonal antibodies against Salmonella Enteritidis lipopolysaccharide. In this study, we compared the results of those ELISAs across sera from experimentally infected 1-day-old chickens and sera and eggs from experimentally infected laying hens. Experimental infections were induced with strains of Salmonella Enteritidis phage types 1 and 2 and Salmonella typhimurium. Sera were collected up to days 44 and 39 after infection from 1 day old chickens and laying hens, respectively. Only the GM-DAS blocking ELISA was able to discriminate between Salmonella Enteritidis infections and infections with the other serotypes. This ELISA had both sensitivity and specificity of 100% for all serum samples from experimentally infected chickens.