title: Epidemiological evaluation of a monoclonal ELISA detecting antibodies against bovine leukaemia virus in serum pools.
abstract: Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting antibodies against bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) were evaluated using a representative sample of 145 serum pools, comprising from 3 to 48 individual sera. The sample was constituted according to the frequency distribution of the negative and positive pools analysed during a screening involving the whole cattle population of Belgium. Sensitivity and specificity were estimated to 88.9% and 100% and the predicted negative and positive values were 99.9% and 100%, respectively. These results indicate the use of serum pools is suitable for the detection of BLV infected herds in eradication campaigns.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Veterinary Research, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Knapen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kerkhofs
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thiry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mammerickx
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D002417:Cattle; D016583:Enzootic Bovine Leukosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary*; D001909:Leukemia Virus, Bovine / Q000276:immunology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral