Diagnostic Accuracy and Optimal Use of Three Tests for Tuberculosis in Live Badgers

Julian A Drewe, Alexandra J Tomlinson, Neil J Walker and Richard J Delahay

PLOS ONE, 2010, vol. 5, issue 6, 1-9

Abstract: Background: Accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) due to infection with Mycobacterium bovis is notoriously difficult in live animals, yet important if we are to understand the epidemiology of TB and devise effective strategies to limit its spread. Currently available tests for diagnosing TB in live Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) remain unvalidated against a reliable gold standard. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and optimal use of three tests for TB in badgers in the absence of a gold standard. Methodology/Principal Findings: A Bayesian approach was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and optimal use of mycobacterial culture, gamma-interferon assay and a commercially available serological test using multiple samples collected from 305 live wild badgers. Although no single test was judged to be sufficiently sensitive and specific to be used as a sole diagnostic method, selective combined use of the three tests allowed guidelines to be formulated that allow a diagnosis to be made for individual animals with an estimated overall accuracy of 93% (range: 75% to 97%). Employing this approach in the study population of badgers resulted in approximately 13 out of 14 animals having their true infection status correctly classified from samples collected on a single capture. Conclusions/Significance: This method of interpretation represents a marked improvement on the current procedure for diagnosing M. bovis infection in live badgers. The results should be of use to inform future test and intervention strategies with the aim of reducing the incidence of TB in free-living wild badger populations.

Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0011196 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 11196&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0011196

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011196

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().