Improved rapid slide agglutination test for presumptive diagnosis of canine brucellosis.

A modified rapid slide agglutination test for the presumptive identification of Brucella canis infection in dogs has been developed. The method required mixing 0.1 ml of canine serum with 0.1 ml of 0.2 M 2-mercaptoethanol solution. Equal volumes (0.05 ml) of the treated serum and the B. canis plate antigen were mixed. Agglutination results were read within 2 min. Clinical studies showed 100% agreement between this method and the conventional 2-mercaptoethanol tube agglutination test. Excellent correlation was shown between cultural isolation and the modified rapid slide agglutination test, using sera from experimentally infected dogs.