A Novel Real-Time PCR-Based Screening Test with Pooled Fecal Samples for Bovine Johne’s Disease
Satoko Kawaji, Reiko Nagata, Yasutaka Minegishi, Yumi Saruyama, Akiko Mita, Shingo Kishizuka, Masahiro Saito, Yasuyuki Mori
Abstract
organisms per gram of feces, which was comparable to that of individual testing. A total of 2,654 animals in 12 infected herds were screened by individual antibody-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the RL-PCR assay using pooled feces. Fifty animals were diagnosed with JD through the screening by RL-PCR, compared with only 5 by ELISA (which were also positive in RL-PCR). In 7 JD-free herds, the results of 4 out of 327 pools (1.2%) were invalid due to the lack of IC amplification, and then animals were confirmed negative individually. Our results suggest that implementation of herd screening by pooled RL-PCR would advance the monitoring and control of JD in cattle herds.