Longitudinal study of interferon-gamma, serum antibody and milk antibody responses in cattle infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.
During a 2-year study period, 252 animals from dairy herds infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and 119 animals from non-infected herds were subjected to repeated blood and faecal sampling. Animals were retrospectively grouped by infection status as infected, exposed (culture negative animals from infected herds), or non-infected animals, and by age, 12-23 months (1+ year), 24-35 months (2+ years), or 36 months and older (3+ years). Samples were collected for culture of faeces, assessment of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) secreted by M. paratuberculosis antigen stimulated whole-blood lymphocytes (IFN-gamma test), and measurement of antibody responses against M. paratuberculosis in serum and milk by an in-house absorbed ELISA. The IFN-gamma test diagnosed higher proportions of infected and exposed animals than the antibody ELISAs. The highest sensitivity of IFN-gamma test was in infected cattle of 2+ years of age. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses supported the assumption that the IFN-gamma test had a better performance than antibody tests of animals of 1+ and 2+ years of age. However, for animals of 3+ years all tests performed equally well. Application of single sampling compared with repeated samplings showed better performance of the IFN-gamma test by repeated samplings, and the milk antibody ELISA in animals of 3+ years of age performed significantly better with repeated sampling compared with single sampling. In conclusion, the IFN-gamma test may be applied for screening of cattle of 1 and 2 years of age for exposure to M. paratuberculosis and the antibody ELISAs from 3 years of age.
Huda
A
A
Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research, Bülowsvej 27, DK-1790 Copenhagen V, Denmark. anxu@fdir.dk
Jungersen
G
G
Lind
P
P
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008892:Milk / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012372:ROC Curve
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007371:Interferon-gamma