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Characteristics of Mycobacterium bovis infected herds tested with the interferon-gamma assay
Date Issued
2019-07-01
Date Available
2019-05-21T14:14:59Z
Abstract
The IFN-γ (interferon gamma) assay is used in Ireland as an ancillary diagnostic test to the single intradermal comparative tuberculin test (SICTT) to maximise the detection of Mycobacterium bovis infected animals (bTB) in cattle herds. Understanding the relationships between herd and animal risk factors and IFN-γ test results is critical to enable the development and evaluation of policy measures on how best to use the test. In this study, we set out to characterise Irish herds with IFN-γ test positive animals in terms of herd size, number of SICTT reactors and number of IFN-γ positive tests, and to evaluate the IFN-γ test in terms of the test cut-off values. The results showed that larger herds with more SICTT reactors were likely to have more IFN-γ positives in the herd, and herds with an IFN-γ test positive animal that was also positive for bTB lesions at post-mortem had higher numbers of IFN-γ positive animals in the herd. Raising the cut-off values for the IFN-γ test only marginally decreased the combined sensitivity of the IFN-γ and the SICTT for diagnosis of bTB lesioned animals. The analysis has provided valuable information on the performance of the IFN-γ test as it is used under current bTB infection levels in Ireland.
Sponsorship
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Preventive Veterinary Medicine
Volume
168
Start Page
52
End Page
59
Copyright (Published Version)
2019 the Authors
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0167-5877
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
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