Comparative efficacy of complement fixation, agarose gel precipitation and slide agglutination tests for the diagnosis of chlamydial infections

The comparative efficacy of agarose gel precipitation test (AGPT) complement fixation test (CFT) and slide agglutination test (SAT) was evaluated for the serodiagnosis of chlamydial infections in different species of animals and birds. The sensitivity of SAT over AGPT and CFT ranged from 75.26 per cent to 83.58 per cent. None of the sera a that was negative in AGPT or CFT was observed to be positive in SAT. The SAT, therefore, appears to be highly specific though its sensitivity is low. The test being simple and easy to perform can be conducted in field conditions to record the seroprevalence of chlamydial infections in sheep, goats, poultry, wild birds and pigs.