BrBME - Brucellosis Bulk Milk ELISA (Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)

Information related to the Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) test for Brucellosis.

The test procedure is known as the Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay, or ELISA for short. This test type may be used to detect a number of diseases in humans and animals using blood serum or milk. When used to test milk for brucellosis we know it as the Brucellosis Bulk Milk ELISA or BrBME. It has been used in Great Britain and in the Republic of Ireland for some time to detect brucellosis and is capable of detecting one infected animal in a herd of 100 - 200 milking cows.

As with any other biological test, there may be false positive and false negative results. In other words not every herd reacting positively to the test is infected, and not every infected herd will give a positive reaction to the test. For this reason the test is not considered to be a definitive indicator of disease. Rather, a positive or inconclusive result is an indicator that individual blood testing of the herd should be carried out to determine if an infected animal is present.