A new single-antigen serological test accurately detects horses infected with Streptococcus equi subsp equi.

P92 ELISA improves strangles diagnosis accuracy compared to traditional SeM antigen testing.

This prospective study developed and validated a novel serological test for detecting Streptococcus equi subsp equi (SEE) infection in horses using a newly identified protein designated P92. Researchers screened 89 SEE-expressed or secreted proteins via microarray analysis using serum from 30 naturally infected horses, 30 control horses, and 18 horses infected with the related subspecies SEZ. This identified P92 as a superior diagnostic target. Subsequent validation involved 102 horses with strangles, 104 controls, and 24 SEZ-infected horses tested via indirect ELISA comparing P92 against the previously standard SeM antigen. The P92 ELISA demonstrated significantly superior diagnostic accuracy with an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 95% (95% CI: 92-98%) compared to SeM ELISA at 88% (95% CI: 83-92%). Statistical analysis using generalized linear modeling confirmed significant differences between groups. These findings suggest P92 offers improved sensitivity and specificity for strangles diagnosis, potentially enhancing clinical detection of this economically important equine respiratory disease.

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