Seroprevalence of equine granulocytic anaplasmosis and lyme borreliosis in Canada as determined by a point-of-care enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

Equine granulocytic anaplasmosis (EGA) and Lyme borreliosis (LB) are an emerging concern in Canada. We estimated the seroprevalence of EGA and equine LB by testing 376 convenience serum samples from 3 provinces using a point-of-care SNAP® 4Dx® ELISA (IDEXX Laboratories, Westbrook, Maine, USA), and investigated the agreement between the point-of-care ELISA and laboratory-based serologic tests. The estimated seroprevalence for EGA was 0.53% overall (0.49% in Saskatchewan, 0.71% in Manitoba), while the estimated seroprevalence for LB was 1.6% overall (0.49% in Saskatchewan, 2.86% in Manitoba). There was limited agreement between the point-of-care ELISA and an indirect fluorescent antibody test for EGA (kappa 0.1, PABAK 0.47) and an ELISA/Western blot combination for LB (kappa 0.23, PABAK 0.71). While the SNAP® 4Dx® ELISA yielded expected seroprevalence estimates, further evaluation of serologic tests for the purposes of disease exposure recognition may be needed.