It has become evident that paratuberculosis in France is not rare and, in particular, very few available data exist concerning its prevalence among dairy goat flocks. In this animal species, vaccination is no longer applied and therefore, control of paratuberculosis is based on preventing transmission of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map) from goats to kids by management measures, supported by culling of animal excreting bacteria by the faecal route (Map shedders). For undertaking any prevalence study, a simple and reliable diagnostic tool should be applied. Although faecal culture is the most accurate test for identifying Map shedders, this technique is long (up to 16 weeks or more for results to be available) and expensive., For this reason, a study was designed to evaluate more rapid and/or more sensitive alternative diagnostic methods. We compared three absorbed commercial ELISA tests, an AGID test, a commercial faeces PCR kit and faecal culture.Sera and faeces were collected in 12 flocks (480 animals, 40 per flock) of a major caprine breeding area. These flocks were originally considered paratuberculosis free or paratuberculosis infected based on their disease history (clinical signs or serological results). Four different age groups (10 animals per group) were studied: 0-1 year; 1-2 years; 2-3 years; 3 years and more. The infectious status of these flocks, after analysis of the results obtained with these new methodologies, showed us that only two flocks could really be considered Map free.Sensitivity and specificity of each test were estimated, taking faecal culture as reference. Their concordance was calculated by different statistical methods. The intra-flock prevalence and the prevalence in each age group for each flock were also evaluated.

Sponsorship

Attendance to this Congress was sponsored by the EU-funded project SSPE-CT-2004-501903