Bulk milk-estimated seroprevalence of Fasciola hepatica in dairy herds and collecting of risk factor data in East Frisia, northern Germany.

The liver fluke Fasciola (F) hepatica is one of the most important trematodes in cattle farming worldwide. Fasciolosis in dairy cows is leading to production losses due to decreased milk yield, liver condemnation and impaired reproduction. The treatment of dairy cows is unsatisfactory, because available drugs are either effective against adult flukes only or have long withdrawal times or in some countries may not be used at all.

Evaluation of a milk ELISA for the serodiagnosis of Dictyocaulus viviparus in dairy cows.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of antibodies against the bovine lungworm Dictyocaulus viviparus in milk was established. This test is based on recombinant major sperm protein (MSP) as the antigen and ELISA results are expressed as optical density ratio (ODR) values. The cut-off value of the milk ELISA was determined as the arithmetic mean of negative milk samples plus three standard deviations (SD).