A unique combination of antigens to diagnose bovine TB, reduce false positive results and control transmission to humans
Problem
Bovine TB is chronic among cattle, and represents the 7th
largest zoonotic transmission threat to humans. There is high
risk of transmission of TB from cattle to humans which is
made worse by low diagnosis owing to the lack of an
efficient test for bovine T B. Zoonosis of animal-human TB
transmission is expected to be 10% of all TB cases globally.
The currently available test for diagnosing bovine TB
amongst cattle takes 4 days and 2 farm visits by a veterinary
doctor — which is time and labour intensive, while also
increasing the risk of disease transmission.
Solution
A test kit with a unique combination of antigens to
detect bovine TB and differentiate between tuberculous & environmental mycobacterium infections, thus minimizing false positive cases. The unique
combination of antigens used has increased the
sensitivity of the kit, which provides results in 10
minutes and is cost-effective at -INR 50 (-$0.7) per
tested animal. The test can be deployed by healthcare
workers with minimal expertise and does not require
any bio-containment facility.
IMPACT
- The in-lab validation for Cisgen kit was conducted on samples from India, UK, Ethiopia that showed 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity, making it superior to existing kits and facilitating its adoption by the dairy industry – public and private.
- Field testing and adoption discussions are underway with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation and IIPHG, Gandhinagar.
- Cisgen’s kit has already been adapted for another common zoonotic disease Brucellosis.
- The kit is a platform technology that can be used to diagnose other chronic diseases of cattle such as Brucellosis, Johne’s disease and Bovine Infectious Rhinotracheitis (IBR). CisGEN is also working on inclusion of Bovine Herpesvirus antigen and Brucella LPS in the kit.
- Finally, the kit can also be used for TB testing in other domesticated animals & has been found to be highly sensitive in testing TB in wild animals.
“IHF helped us financially in upscaling and validation of our animal health care product. IHF also provided us with technical and network support required. IHF mentored us to have a business portfolio for our products.”
