Immunodetection by enzyme-linked immuno-filtration assay (ELIFA) of IgG, IgM, IgA and IgE antibodies in bird breeder's disease.

The diagnosis of bird breeder's lung (BBL) depends upon a range of epidemiological, clinical, radiological and immunological arguments. The simple detection of antibodies cannot constitute a pathognomonic criterion of BBL. We applied the enzyme-linked immuno-filtration assay (ELIFA) to the study of 50 sera chosen from 2509 samples taken from subjects exposed to avian antigens. The arc-IgAp was detected in all sera samples (n = 27) taken from symptomatic subjects (n = 16), but was only demonstrated 3 times out of 2466 samples taken from exposed asymptomatic subjects. The ELIFA method revealed IgG, IgM, IgA and IgE precipitating antibodies only in the case of clinically ill subjects. Finally, this technique demonstrated a second functional antigenic component (arc-P2) which preferentially induced specific immunoglobulins of different classes. Compared immunological profiles (CIP), established by ELIFA, seem to be highly significant for BBL, and correlate well with pathological symptoms and their evolution.