title: Laboratory reporting accuracy of polymerase chain reaction testing for psittacine beak and feather disease virus.
abstract: Diagnostic assays that use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods are increasingly available to veterinarians. Psittacine beak and feather disease virus (family Circoviridae, genus Circovirus) is a pathogen of clinical importance for which PCR assays have been developed. Several laboratories offer this diagnostic assay in the United States; however, there is little information on the sensitivity, specificity, or accuracy of these assays. In this study, known positive (n = 10) and negative (n = 10) samples were sent to 5 commercial laboratories. Accuracy was 100% for 2 laboratories, 95% for 2 laboratories, and 71% for 1 laboratory; the accuracy of the latter laboratory was affected because of a specificity of 20%. These results suggest that although the results from most laboratories are highly accurate, both false-positive and false-negative results are occasionally reported by at least 2 laboratories. These results also suggest that at least 1 laboratory may be generating large numbers of false-positive results.
authors.affiliation: Medical Center for Birds, 3805 Main St, Oakley, CA 94561, USA.
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Speer
mesh_terms: D017925:Circovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D015588:Observer Variation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity