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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2000, p. 2550-2556, Vol. 38, No. 7
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Use of Pooled Fecal Culture for Sensitive and Economic Detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis Infection in Flocks of Sheep

R. J. Whittington,1,* S. Fell,1 D. Walker,1 S. McAllister,1 I. Marsh,1 E. Sergeant,2 C. A. Taragel,2 D. J. Marshall,2 and I. J. Links3

NSW Agriculture, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Camden, New South Wales 2570,1 Orange Agricultural Institute, Orange, New South Wales 2500,2 and Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2650,3 Australia

Received 24 September 1999/Returned for modification 30 December 1999/Accepted 26 February 2000

Ovine Johne's disease, or paratuberculosis, occurs in many countries. In Australia, surveillance using serology is used as part of a control program, but the testing regime is costly relative to its sensitivity. For this reason, culturing of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in fecal samples pooled from a number of sheep was evaluated. Initially, the effect of pooling on the sensitivity of fecal culture was evaluated using samples from 20 sheep with multibacillary paratuberculosis and 20 sheep with paucibacillary paratuberculosis, each confirmed histologically. All multibacillary cases and 50% of paucibacillary cases were detected by culturing of feces at a pooling rate of 1 infected plus 49 uninfected sheep. In a pilot-scale study in 1997, M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis was detected by pooled fecal culture on 93% of 27 infected farms which were identified originally based on history, clinical signs, and one or more rounds of testing using serologic and histopathologic examinations. Pooled fecal culture was compared with serologic examination for submissions from 335 farms where both tests had been conducted on the same sheep and was significantly more sensitive (P < 0.001). Computer simulation of random sampling indicated that the testing of 6 pools of 50 sheep would provide 95% confidence in detecting >= 2% prevalence of infection. The estimated laboratory cost of pooled fecal culture when applied as a flock test is approximately 30% that of serologic examination, and sample collection costs are lower. It is recommended that pooled fecal culture replace serologic examination for detection of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection at the flock level.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: NSW Agriculture, Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, PMB 8, Camden, New South Wales 2570, Australia. Phone: 61 2 46406343. Fax: 61 2 46406384. E-mail: richard.whittington{at}agric.nsw.gov.au.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2000, p. 2550-2556, Vol. 38, No. 7
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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