Application of meat juice in diagnosis of brucellosis in hares and wild boars by ELISA

Meat juice and serum samples from hares and wild boars were used in the ELISA for the examination for the presence of anti-Brucella antibodies. A high correlation between meat juice ELISA and serum ELISA was obtained. All 9 meat juice samples from hares with anatomopathological lesions characteristic of brucellosis (from 8 animals Brucella was isolated) were positive in the ELISA, similarly as sera. Out of 46 remaining hares only 1 reacted positively in the meat juice ELISA and it was not confirmed by the serum ELISA and other methods. As concerns the material from wild boars 12.3% of sera (out of 933 samples) and 13.7% of meat juice samples ( out of 336) were positive in the ELISA. Among 48 serum and meat juice samples coming from the same animals, 6 samples were positive both in the serum ELISA and meat juice ELISA and 42 were negative. The meat juice ELISA proved to be a valuable method for testing both hares and wild boars for anti-Brucella antibodies.