Two simple antigen-detection enzyme immunoassays for the diagnosis of Trypanosoma evansi infections in the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius).

A monoclonal antibody against a plasma membrane antigen of Trypanosoma rhodesiense was used in a microplate- and a tube-ELISA for the detection of T. evansi circulating antigen in camel sera from endemic areas in Mali and Kenya. The colour reactions could be read visually and the results obtained for both assays were identical. The sera from the control herd of 30 camels from a farm in a non-endemic area in Kenya were all negative for antigen, while 18 out of 20 sera from infected camels in an endemic area in Kenya and 16 out of 17 parasitaemic camels from a different endemic area in Mali were antigen-positive. More importantly, the antigen-detection assay gave positive results with 9 out of 20 and 13 out of 20 field sera from the two endemic areas in Kenya and Mali, respectively, collected from camels which had negative parasitological findings. The ease with which the tube-ELISA can be carried out makes it a potentially suitable tool for the diagnosis of T. evansi infections in the field.