Hey y'all.
Part of the preparation for breeding my girl Naomi next month is to have her tested. I just got the test results back from UC Davis and she tested negative for CL, CAE, and Johne's, but according to the results, the CAE numbers are in "suspect range":
"Caprine arthritis encephalitis / ovine progressive pneumonia antibody cELISA:
Results in the suspect range may be caused by early-stage infection, or may be temporary cross-reaction due to recent vaccination, stress, or other illness. Re-testing the animal in 3-4 weeks is recommended. Most suspect results due to temporary cross-reaction revert to negative in this time period."
Naomi was vaxxed on June 3 and right around August 7 for CD&T, which I'm told can interfere with test results, but I'm wondering if it wasn't too long ago to be effective in doing so. Between those CD&T shots, she has only been on our property and mostly in her pen with our 4 month old, Willow. We recently added a small bit of Purina Goat Chow and BOSS to their regular regimen of alfalfa hay and goat minerals, which at this point is thick sticks with a few leaves on it. Last month we copper bolused her when it looked possible that she was becoming deficient. I had her blood drawn for testing, and then she was given a BOSE shot directly after that last Monday.
I'm concerned about this because for one, my little goatie girl could be sick, but also, because we paid a good price for her and it will throw a wrench in the whole works to have an animal that I can't use for milk. Of course, I have no real idea of the impact a positive test result can have when we retest, but I guess I'm trying to brace myself for what that might be, and figure out what my options are in the event that her next result isn't a nice clean negative reading.
Thoughts?
Replies
Oh wow, guess what I just found out?
It seems that I have been reading my Naomi's test results incorrectly all this time. Since this is my first time ever getting one of my girls tested, I guess I didn't realize that UC Davis explains things in the "Immunology" section that don't necessarily pertain to the test results. I completely overlooked the fact that it the results were "negative" on the report and just zeroed in on the explanations on the report. I have never been so happy to be so wrong. ;-P
As an added bonus, I will be receiving the service memo that ADGA needs from me (that wasn't given to me at the time of transfer) so I can finish getting her registered. Long story short, I had lost the phone number of the breeder that I purchased her from and thought I was going to have to forego her registration. As long as I get it in the mail, I'm golden and our breeding plans are back on track for this year. Yay!
The only lab that I know of that does the PCR is Colorado State. In 99% of cases, if a goat has antibodies to the CAE virus, it means they have the disease, and if they have the disease, they should also test positive on the PCR. But in 1% of cases, the ELISA will have a false positive, and those goats will test negative on the PCR.
Good point, Deborah. I'll look into that if she gets a positive on the ELISA for sure.
What is the difference between a goat having the antibodies versus the disease itself? I'm wondering if Naomi were to get a negative on the PCR test if that would be convincing enough that she is clean since in the even that she gets a positive on the ELISA test.
Also, do all labs do the PCR tests? When I brought my blood sample in, the woman didn't ask me which test I wanted the lab to perform.
I should have said that the 1% chance of a false positive is with the ELISA, and this isn't even a positive. It's a suspect, which is not as high a number. You could test with the PCR, which actually tests for the presence of the presence of the disease rather than the antibodies. The reason most people don't do it more often is because the lab fee for it is $25 rather than $5 for the ELISA. But if you have a positive ELISA, you should do a PCR before making any final decisions on culling.
It's the ELISA test.
The truth is that I am not quite sure about whether it was a closed herd or not. She didn't talk about showing her goats, she said she was raising goats for the milk for her small boys (I think there were 4, one of which was a baby). She said she didn't test, but that she got the goats from farms that do test. I *think* that it's quite possible that what she is saying is the truth, but there isn't any way to know for sure. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to get a hold of her because I lost her number from my phone, and last I heard, she was selling off her herd and moving, but I'm not positive on that. I feel like I'm totally flying blind here.
At this point, all I can do is get her tested again, and I'm planning on trying a different lab as well, so maybe twice more. I'm continuing to prepare her for breeding, but if she doesn't test out negative, that will put a halt to my plans, and I'll have to figure out what to do next.
If you purchased her from a closed herd that has years of negative tests results behind them, then the goat is probably fine. There is also about a 1% chance of getting a false positive -- and this isn't even a positive; it's a suspect.
Was this an AGID, a PCR, or an ELISA test?