Diagnosis of naturally occurring Fasciola hepatica infections in cattle with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Sera from 100 herds of cattle located in the state of Washington were examined with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibody to Fasciola hepatica in a screening procedure that included 5 to 10 samples/herd. Twenty-eight herds contained infected cattle and F hepatica was most prevalent in 3 distinct geographic areas. Subsequent retesting of all sera available from 14 herds (mean of 109 samples/herd) revealed that the screening procedure correctly detected 7 of 7 operations in which greater than 40% of samples were positive or suspect and 3 of 3 operations in which 12% to 13% of the samples were positive or suspect. One of 3 herds considered negative after screening was found to contain a few (7%) positive samples and 1 herd considered possibly infected was negative on retest. These results were compared with those obtained by fecal examination for F hepatica eggs in 9 of the 14 herds. A good correlation (5 of 5) was found in which a high percentage (48% to 85%) of sera were positive or suspect. Fasciola eggs were not found in samples from 2 herds with few (7% to 12%) positive or suspect sera or in 2 herds that were negative by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary*; D005210:Fasciola hepatica; D005211:Fascioliasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques / Q000662:veterinary*; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000662:veterinary; D014861:Washington