title: Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in dairy herds in Alberta.
abstract: Fifty dairy herds in Alberta were tested for the presence of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis by fecal culture and serum enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Individual sera (1500) were tested for antibodies to M. paratuberculosis by ELISA. Fecal samples were combined in pools of 3 (10 pools/herd) for a total of 500 pools that were cultured for M. paratuberculosis. Thirty cultures, including all 10 pools from 1 herd, were not readable due to fungal contamination. The remaining 470 cultures, representing 49 herds, yielded 16 positive pools (3.4% +/- 2.1%) from 10 herds (20.4% +/- 11.3%). The ELISA of each of the 1500 sera detected 105 (7.0% +/- 2.4%) positive sera and 20 (40.0% +/- 13.6%) positive herds, based on 2 or more individual positive sera in the herd. The true herd-level prevalence, as determined by ELISA, was 26.8% +/- 9.6%. The true herd-level prevalence, as determined by M. paratuberculosis fecal culture, ranged from 27.6% +/- 6.5% to 57.1% +/- 8.3%, depending on whether 1, 2, or all 3 individual fecal samples in the positive fecal pool were culture positive.
authors.affiliation: Agri-Food Laboratories Branch, Food Safety Division, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, 6909-116 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 4P2. ole.sorensen@gov.ab.ca
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rawluk
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Manninen
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ollis
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000662:veterinary; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial