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. 2019 Jul;31(4):598-600.
doi: 10.1177/1040638719860487. Epub 2019 Jun 24.

Evaluation of a serum ELISA for detection of bovine leukemia viral antibodies in milk samples

James F Evermann  1   2 , David M DeAvila  1   2 , Steven M Parish  1   2 , Catherine H Merritt  1   2 , Katherine C Noble  1   2 , Sampath Srikanth  1   2 , Amanda L E Bronowski  1   2
Affiliations

Evaluation of a serum ELISA for detection of bovine leukemia viral antibodies in milk samples

James F Evermann et al. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection has worldwide distribution in both dairy and beef herds. Our study was initiated in order to encourage control of BLV infection by using milk samples, in lieu of serum samples, to readily test lactating animals prior to dry-off and calving. Two Holstein dairy herds (A and B), with known status of BLV infection as determined by serology, were sampled by the collection of serum and fresh milk samples. Selected samples were tested using a USDA-licensed BLV antibody ELISA kit (Bovine leukemia virus antibody test kit; VMRD, Pullman, WA) for serum. Forty-one lactating cows from each herd were sampled. Herd A was confirmed to have endemic BLV infection; herd B was confirmed to be free of BLV infection. The milk ELISA results demonstrated 100% identification of positive and negative animals compared with the serum results. The correlation of the ELISA values between serum and milk samples was 97%, which supports the use of this BLV ELISA on milk samples.

Keywords: bovine leukemia virus; serum/milk ELISA validation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Graphic representation of the total animals tested (n = 82) for bovine leukemia virus (BLV) antibodies from 2 herds. Herd A = 1–41; herd B = 42–82. Correlation between the BLV serum and milk antibody ELISA optical density (OD) results was 97.3%.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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