Use of dried blood samples as antibody source for detection of Babesia bigemina infection in cattle by indirect fluorescent antibody test

Laboratory diagnosis of bovine babesiosis is essentially based on microscopical examination of stained blood smears, which has low sensitivity. Indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) is widely applied for sensitive screening of large number of samples among the diagnostic tests. A total of 148 dried blood smples absorbed on Whatman filter paper No. 1, were used for screening by IFAT as a substitute for serum after reconstitution, of which 59 (39.86%) revealed seroreactivity. When 50 samples of each were used, the performance of dried blood samples was comparable with that of serum samples when analyzed by Kvalue statistics at 95% confidence interval and the specificity and sensitivity were also not compromised.