Korean J Vet Res.  2011 Jun;51(2):117-121.

Comparison of tuberculin skin test with Interferon-gamma assay for the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis in Korean cattle

• Shin SW
• Shin MK
• Cha SB
• Woo JT
• Lee SM
• Ku BK
• Cho YS
• Jung SC
• Yoo HS

Abstract

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused primarily by Mycobacterium bovis, continues to exert an economic loss, even in countries with active control measures, and is one of zoonotic diseases enable to be transmitted to human. The control and eradication of bTB are mainly based on a test and slaughter policy and/or abattoir surveillance. Various factors including limitation of diagnostic tests have been considered as major constraints to eradication. Single intradermal test (SIT) is the official diagnostic test. New diagnostic methods are needed to be developed, because of limitations of the test. In the present study SIT was compared with single intradermal comparative cervical test (SICCT) and interferon (IFN)-gamma assay. There was very low correlation between SIT and SICCT. However, high correlation was shown between SIT and IFN-gamma assay while no correlation was observed between SICCT and IFN-gamma assay. Therefore, our results suggest the possibility of replacement of SIT with IFN-gamma assay for the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis.

Keyword

bovine tuberculosis; IFN-gamma assay; SICCT; SIT

MeSH Terms

Abattoirs
Animals
Cattle
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
Humans
Interferon-gamma
Interferons
Intradermal Tests
Mycobacterium bovis
Skin
Skin Tests
Tuberculin
Tuberculosis, Bovine
Interferon-gamma
Interferons
Tuberculin