New Johne’s Disease test showing positive results

Queen’s University in Belfast has developed a new Johne’s Disease test which promises to be more rapid and sensitive in detecting the infectious agent (MAP) of the disease.

Importantly, the new test can detect live infectious agents of the disease rather than just the antibodies that fight against MAP as are detected by the currently used milk-ELISA test.

Results have shown that the new test was able to detect more infected animals by milk testing in dairy cattle which can also be applied to faeces and blood from other livestock.

It is hoped that this new test will provide a platform for more accurate and rapid results for vets and farmers to make more accurate decisions for the control of Johne's within herds.

The new test will now be applied at farm level for the next stage of development.