The BCVA has given a cautious welcome to a new antigen skin test for the diagnosis of bTB that is claimed to “considerably improve on a century-old standard” and accelerate control of the disease.
Importantly, the new test is able to distinguish between infected cattle and those that have merely been vaccinated against the disease.
The traditional tuberculin skin test shows a positive result for cattle that have the disease and for those that have been vaccinated against it with the widely used BCG vaccine.
By using novel peptides to distinguish between these two groups, the new tests may facilitate the implementation of vaccination programmes that could reduce the transmission of the infectious bacterial disease.
The study, by an international team, has been published in the journal Science Advances.
Peptide-based test
The authors stated: “Because the standard tuberculin skin test precludes implementation of BCG vaccine-based control programmes, we have developed and evaluated a novel peptide-based defined antigen skin test (DST) to diagnose bTB and differentiate infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA).
“The results, in laboratory assays and in experimentally or naturally infected animals, demonstrate the peptide-based DST provides DIVA capability and equal or superior performance over the extant standard tuberculin surveillance test.
“Together with the ease of chemical synthesis, quality control and lower burden for regulatory approval compared with recombinant antigens, the results of our studies show the DST considerably improves a century-old standard, and enables the development and implementation of critically needed surveillance and vaccination programmes to accelerate bTB control.”
- Read the full story in the 5 August issue of Veterinary Times.
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