title: Evaluation of two commercial, rapid, ELISA kits testing for scrapie in retro-pharyngeal lymph nodes in sheep.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the number of cases of scrapie that would occur in sheep of different prion protein (PrP) genotypes if scrapie was to become established in New Zealand, and to compare the performance of two commercially available, rapid ELISA kits using ovine retro-pharyngeal lymph nodes (RLN) from non-infected and infected sheep of different PrP genotypes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using published data on the distribution of PrP genotypes within the New Zealand sheep flock and the prevalence of cases of scrapie in these genotypes in the United Kingdom, the annual expected number of cases of scrapie per genotype was estimated, should scrapie become established in New Zealand, assuming a total population of 28 million sheep. A non-infected panel of RLN was collected from 737 sheep from New Zealand that had been culled, found in extremis or died. Brain stem samples were also collected from 131 of these sheep. A second panel of infected samples comprised 218 and 117 RLN from confirmed scrapie cases that had originated in Europe and the United States of America, respectively. All samples were screened using two commercial, rapid, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy ELISA kits: Bio-Rad TeSeE ELISA (ELISA-BR), and IDEXX HerdChek BSE-Scrapie AG Test (ELISA-ID).
  
  
  RESULTS
  If scrapie became established in New Zealand, an estimated 596 cases would occur per year; of these 234 (39%) and 271 (46%) would be in sheep carrying ARQ/ARQ and ARQ/VRQ PrP genotypes, respectively. For the non-infected samples from New Zealand the diagnostic specificity of both ELISA kits was 100%. When considering all infected samples, the diagnostic sensitivity was 70.4 (95% CI=65.3-75.3)% for ELISA-BR and 91.6 (95% CI=88.2-94.4)% for ELISA-ID. For the ARQ/ARQ genotype (n=195), sensitivity was 66.2% for ELISA-BR and 90.8% for ELISA-ID, and for the ARQ/VRQ genotype (n=107), sensitivity was 81.3% for ELISA-BR and 98.1% for ELISA-ID.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, the ELISA-ID kit demonstrated a higher diagnostic sensitivity for detecting scrapie in samples of RLN from sheep carrying scrapie-susceptible PrP genotypes than the ELISA-BR kit at comparable diagnostic specificity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The diagnostic performance of the ELISA-ID kit using ovine RLN merits the consideration of including this assay in the national scrapie surveillance programme in New Zealand.
authors: a Investigation and Diagnostic Centres and Response , Ministry for Primary Industries , Wellington , New Zealand.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Kittelberger
authors: L
authors: L
authors: McIntyre
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Watts
authors: S
authors: S
authors: MacDiarmid
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Hannah
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Jenner
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Bueno
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Swainsbury
authors: J P M
authors: JP
authors: Langeveld
authors: L J M
authors: LJ
authors: van Keulen
authors: F G
authors: FG
authors: van Zijderveld
authors: W M
authors: WM
authors: Wemheuer
authors: J A
authors: JA
authors: Richt
authors: S J
authors: SJ
authors: Sorensen
authors: C J
authors: CJ
authors: Pigott
authors: J S
authors: JS
authors: O'Keefe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000662:veterinary*; D012608:Scrapie / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D011328:Prions; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
keywords: ELISA; Scrapie; lymph node; prion protein; sheep; transmissible spongiform encephalopathy