ABSTRACT
In order to ensure food safety, screening food samples for the presence of pathogens has been categorised as a legal testing item throughout the globe. One of the most prevalent zoonotic bacteria transmitted through dairy milk is Staphylococcus aureus. Given the limitations of the conventional detection methods, in the current study we desigined a competitive lateral flow immune assay (LFIA) using colloidal silver nanoparticles derived from mango leaves for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus in cow milk. SpA, a recombinant protein of Staphylococcus aureus, was used to raised hyperimmune sera used for developing the assay followed by conjugation with the synthesized nanoparticles. To increase the specificity of the assay, the milk samples were prenriched with selective agar exclusively require for Staphyloccocus aureus. The assay was found to be completed within 7-8 h by observing test and control lines in LFIA strips. The developed assay was found to specifically detect the bacteria as low as 1000 cfu/ml of milk samples. With a total 230 number of raw and clinical mastitis milk samples, the assay was validated and achieved relative accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity values of 97.39, 98.03, and 96.1%, respectively. The developed LFIA, which uses economically feasible and stable silver nanoparticles derived from mango leaves, has the potential for routine screening of milk samples for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, especially in low-resource settings, allowing for early diagnosis, which facilitates effective treatment for the dairy animals and prevents the transmission of the disease in consumers.
