Development of a novel immunochromatographic lateral flow assay specific for Mycobacterium bovis cells and its application in combination with immunomagnetic separation to test badger faeces.

The European badger is an important wildlife reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis implicated in the spread of bovine tuberculosis in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Infected badgers are known to shed M. bovis in their urine and faeces, which may contaminate the environment. To aid bovine tuberculosis control efforts novel diagnostic tests for detecting infected and shedding badgers are needed. We proposed development of a novel, rapid immunochromatographic lateral flow device (LFD) as a non-invasive test to detect M. bovis cells in badger faeces. Its application in combination with immunomagnetic separation (IMS) to detect Mycobacterium bovis cells in badger faeces is reported here. A novel prototype LFD for M. bovis cells was successfully developed, with unique specificity for M. bovis and a limit of detection 50% (LOD The novel IMS-LFD assay, although very specific for M. bovis, has low analytical sensitivity (indicated by the LOD