Serologic Tests for Detecting Antibodies against Mycobacterium Bovis and Mycobacterium Avium Subspecies Paratuberculosis in Eurasian Wild Boar (Sus Scrofa Scrofa)

Abstract

Abstract. New tools to detect exposure of free-range Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) to pathogenic mycobacteria would be valuable for improved disease surveillance and wildlife management. Two hundred sera from wild boar of known Mycobacterium bovis infection status were used to evaluate test suitability for the detection of antibodies against M. bovis and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (or crossreacting members of the M. avium complex). Two traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were evaluated using M. bovis purified protein derivative (bPPD) and paratuberculosis protoplasmatic antigen 3 (PPA3) as antigens, respectively, and a new point-of-care test format for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) that uses the innovative dual-path platform (DPP TB) test. The effect of individual factors (sex, age, lesions) on the diagnostic performance of the serologic tests was also determined. Although the DPP had a sensitivity of 89.6% and a specificity of 90.4%, for bPPD, the sensitivity was 79.2% and the specificity 100%. Both tests had a kappa agreement of 0.80. Sixty-five of 68 (95.6%) wild boar sera with antibodies against the PPA3 antigen corresponded to known M. bovis-infected wild boar. Significant differences were not observed in the bPPD and DPP readings among lesion categories or between age classes. A slight sex-related difference in sensitivity toward males in the DPP was found, but it was not detected in the bPPD enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results support the use of antibody-based diagnostic tests for both large-scale and individual bTB testing of Eurasian wild boar and suggest that wild boar cannot be used as sentinels for infections caused by M. avium complex members.

Seroprevalence of Mycobacterium avium Complex in Wild Mammals in the Iberian Peninsula

“…Reports of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis serologically positive wild mammals in Iberian Peninsula include red deer (Cervus elaphus) (Reyes-García et al, 2008), European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) (Maio et al, 2011), and wild boar (Sus scrofa) (Boadella et al, 2011), but there was no previous report of MAC seropositivity in red foxes, Eurasian otter and European badger, and this study reports for the first time the presence of MAC antibodies in these species in the Iberian Peninsula.…”

Evaluation of a MPB70-ELISA to differentiate Mycobacterium bovis from M. avium-sensitized swine

“…This can be useful for epidemiological understanding and, consequently, for control programs. Although humoral response in swine is not often investigated, recently a rapid serological test using bovine PPD and a dual path platform for bovine TB diagnosis was reported for M. bovis-infected wild boars (Boadella et al 2011), with encouraging results. This study demonstrated that swine also present a detectable humoral response after mycobacterial infection.…”

“…Although serological assays have been developed with promising results (Boadella et al 2011, Wisselink et al 2010, as well as an Interferon-gamma release assay (Faldyna et al 2012), they are mainly focused on the diagnosis of lymphadenitis, which is determined by MAC. To our knowledge, there are no studies addressing the diagnosis of M. bovis infections in swine and/or designed to discriminate between infections determined by M. bovis or MAC.…”

Six recommendations for improving monitoring of diseases shared with wildlife: examples regarding mycobacterial infections in Spain

“…Serum antibodies and TB-compatible lesions are time-and cost-effective in wild boar Santos et al 2010;Boadella et al 2011). …”

“…However, wild boar are considered the best TB surveillance target because of their wider distribution, higher abundance and high availability as a game species and because of their lesion distribution (Martín-Hernando et al 2007). The recent design of a specific and sensitive enough enzymelinked immunosorbert assay (ELISA) test Boadella et al 2011) makes sample harvesting and laboratory analyses relatively easy even if only head lymph nodes and blood samples are available. By contrast, the detection of TB-compatible lesions in cervids requires the inspection of the head and neck, thorax and abdomen Martín-Hernando et al 2010).…”