Assessment of a commercial sandwich ELISA in the diagnosis of aspergillosis in falcons

A commercial sandwich elisa (Platelia Aspergillus EIA; Bio-Rad) developed for the detection of galactomannan, a major cell wall constituent of Aspergillus species, was tested for its efficacy in the diagnosis of aspergillosis in falcons. Ninety serum samples from 50 aspergillosis-positive falcons and 182 samples from 142 aspergillosis-negative falcons were tested. The sensitivity of the test was only 12 per cent and its specificity was 95 percent. The test was therefore unsatisfactory for detecting galactomannan in the serum samples and cannot be used as a screening test for aspergillosis in falcons.