Detection of anti-listeriolysin O in dairy cattle experimentally infected with Listeria monocytogenes

Physiopathology Research Unit, US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, Ames, IA 50010, USA.

A dot-blot assay and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect listeriosis in dairy cattle were developed that detected anti-listeriolysin O antibodies in the serum of cows experimentally infected with Listeria monocytogenes. The tests utilized purified listeriolysin O (LLO) as the detection antigen and streptolysin O (SLO) to absorb cross-reacting antibodies. The two tests were compared with an agglutination test that used formalin-killed whole L. monocytogenes cells. Blood samples were collected periodically from 17 cows after intramammary gland infection, and the development of anti-LLO antibodies was followed by an agglutination test, the dot-blot test, and the ELISA. In general, an agglutination titer of > 640 was needed for a positive dot-blot anti-LLO test for nonpregnant cows. However, 1 pregnant cow with an agglutination titer of 20 was positive in the dot-blot test. The ELISA was as sensitive as the dot-blot assay but gave a quantitative measurement to distinguish serum samples of positive reactors from cross-reactors. The specificity of the LLO-based tests was further evaluated using serum from cows that had been experimentally infected with Staphylococcus aureus, 17 of which had agglutination titers for L. monocytogenes > 640. These elevated agglutination titers were probably due to cross-reacting bacterial antigens because serum from 9 of 17 of these animals did not react to the purified LLO antigen. A positive response to the LLO-based dot-blot and ELISA assays is indicative of previous or current infection with L. monocytogenes.