Bovine milk test can ID Johne's disease

NATIONAL REPORT — Two companies engaged in animal testing and diagnostics have partnered to create the first USDA-approved test to identify Johne's disease in bovine milk samples.

The Parachek test is widely used to test cattle, sheep and goat serum for antibodies to Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, which causes Johne's disease.

Antel BioSystems Inc, an animal testing center, and Prionics, a farm diagnostics firm, both submitted data to USDA's Center for Veterinary Biologics last fall to obtain the joint claim for the Prionics Parachek kit.

Once the claim was received, the companies then succeeded in having milk testing officially acknowledged in the U.S. Voluntary Johne's Control Program, developed to address growing concern about the disease.

The Parachek milk test enables dairy producers to use milk samples – already routinely collected in most of the United States and Canada as part of the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) system – for Johne's diagnosis.

Integrating herd-health data into DHI also could enhance the ability to track and manage Johne's disease, according to AntelBio.