Species: Ovine, cervine, bovine, llamoid, caprine

Specimen: Serum

Container: Red top or gel tube

Collection protocol: Venepuncture

Special handling/shipping requirements:  Standard

General information about the disease:

Johne’s disease is an enteric infection of grazing ruminants and llamoids caused by Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. This test has a reported specificity of >99% indicating that an animal with a positive result almost certainly has Johne’s infection. The sensitivity of the test depends on the stage of the disease. In preclinical cases that are faecal culture positive, the sensitivity is approximately 60%. However, with clinically affected animals, the sensitivity improves to approximately 87%.

General information about when this test is indicated:

When ill thrift is present in grazing animals .

Comparison with other related tests:  AGID and CFT are other serological tests. Faecal PCR increases sensitivity and may be used to quantify shedding or to test pools of up to 5 samples. Faecal Ziehl-Neelsen stains are also possible to check for acid fast organisms, but lack sensitivity.

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