Comparison of two agar gel immunodiffusion protocols for diagnosing equine infectious anemia

Abstract

This study compared agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) protocols for diagnosing equine infectious anemia. Two commercial testing kits were used: one following the Japanese Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control and one following the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) manual. From 651 samples tested, both protocols gave identical results for 647 samples (23 samples tested positive; 624 tested negative). Non-specific reactions were observed in 21 samples testing negative by the Japanese protocol, but none were observed with the OIE protocol. The kappa coefficient value was 0.962, indicating almost perfect agreement between the two protocols. This study found no difference in diagnostic agreement between the two protocols, but the OIE protocol produced non-specific reactions less frequently than the Japanese protocol.