A. Minas, Ζ. Dimareli-Malli, Ι. Vlemas, Κ. Sarris, G. Papadopoulos

Twenty kids (12 femae and 8 mae) were infected experimentally with a local strain Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. During the 22 months of experiment feaces were examined after a Ziehl-Nielsen stain for the presence of mycobacteria and sera using AGIDT and ELISA. Excretion of mycobacteria in feaces started 9 months post inoculation. Referring to serological tests, the first results in ELISA detected 6 months and in AGIDT 12 months post inoculation. The antibody titres, as measured by ELISA, appeared to increase throughout the experiment. Regression analysis of the mean values of the ELISA results showed a strong correlation between increasing antibody titres and time