Comparison of the commercial agar-gel immunodiffusion test and radioimmunoprecipitation assay for detection of antibodies to bovine leukemia virus.

In a double-blind study, the commercial agar-gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) was compared with a radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIA) performed with glycoprotein (gp) antigen for detection of antibodies to bovine leukemia virus. Of 240 sera tested, 115 were from adult cows and 125 were from precolostral calves. Most adult animals were tested within 1 week of parturition. Sera from 74 cattle were positive and sera from 166 cattle were negative by gp RIA. Sensitivity of the AGID, compared with the gp RIA, was 85.1% when the test was read at 48 hours and was 94.6% when read at 72 hours. Specificity increased from 92.2% at 48 hours to 96.4% at 72 hours. Reading the AGID again at 72 hours also clarified most reactions that were questionable at 48 hours due to a haze around the test serum well. Of 3 RIA-positive precolostral calf sera, 2 were AGID-negative and 1 had a questionable reaction by the AGID at 48 hours. Of 5 RIA-positive sera that were AGID-negative at 48 hours, 2 were precolostral calves and 3 were cows tested at parturition. Of 166 RIA-negative reactions, none was falsely positive by the AGID at 48 or at 72 hours.