-

Objective: Evaluation of an ELISA test using the cellular schizont antigen for the diagnosis of Theileria anulata infection.
Design: Descriptive study.
Animals: A total of 124 cattle, 56 cases with clinical features and 68 samples without clinical features and apparently healthy.
Procedure: Serum was collected from cattle for the detection of anti- Theileria antibadies by indirect ELISA, using the cellular schizont antigen and the microplates coated with this antigen. On the blood-smears from the same cases, microscopic observation was done for determine the percentage of positeve and negative cases of Theileria infection.
Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics.
Results: Out of 56 serum samples, belong to animals with clinical features, 42 cases (75%) were ELISA-Positive and the rest (25%) were ELISA-negative whereas, all of them had positive blood¬-smears. Also, out of 68 serum from apparently healthy animals, 19 cases (27.9%) were ELISA-positive and 15 cases (22%) were blood smear-positive.
Conclusion: The present study by using of cellular schizont as solid phase antigen, showed high quality for detection of anti¬-Theileria antibodies by ELISA, and this test could detect 54 cases (76%) from a total of 71 animals with Thieleria-positive blood¬-smears. The results showed good correlation (80% coincidence) between the data obtained by two methods. Therefore, the ELISA could be recomended as a screening test for detecting of Theileria infection in cattle. J. Fac. Vet. Med. Univ. Tehran. 58,4:319-322, 2003.