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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: jas.2008-0910v1 86/8/1977    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Osterstock, J. B. Articles by Roussel, A. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Osterstock, J. B. Articles by Roussel, A. J.

Familial and herd-level associations with paratuberculosis enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay status in beef cattle¹

J. B. Osterstock^*,2,3, G. T. Fosgate, N. D. Cohen^*, J. N. Derr and A. J. Roussel^*

^* Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, and Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, and Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843

² Corresponding author: jbosterstock{at}ag.tamu.edu

A cross-sectional study was performed to determine the odds of having a positive paratuberculosis ELISA result if the dam was ELISA positive in Texas beef cattle, adjusted for individual and herd-level risk factors for seropositivity. Texas beef cattle (n = 2,621) were tested for paratuberculosis by using a commercial ELISA and microbiologic culture of feces for Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Pedigree data were collected to identify dam-and sire-offspring pairs. Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of seropositivity associated with age, dam ELISA status, sire ELISA status, herd size, herd history of clinical paratuberculosis, within-herd seroprevalence, within-herd fecal MAP prevalence, and within-herd fecal non-MAP Mycobacterium spp. prevalence. Herd of residence was included as a random effect to account for the correlation of observations within the same herd. Statistically probable associations were observed between ELISA status and herd fecal MAP prevalence [OR (odds ratio) 1.28 per 1% increase; P < 0.001] and herd seroprevalence (OR 1.21 per 1% increase; P < 0.001). The association with dam ELISA status was small (OR 1.35) and not highly probable (P = 0.69). Results indicate that use of dam ELISA status to make culling decisions in beef cattle may not improve the success of paratuberculosis control programs. Alternative strategies may be more effective for reducing the odds of seropositivity.

Key Words: Bayesian modeling • beef cattle • genetic epidemiology • Johne’s disease • Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis