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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Frontiers in Immunology

The Enferplex Bovine TB antibody test shows a significant degree of positivity in both restricted and officially tuberculosis free herds in a national study of bulk tank milk samples from dairy herds in Great Britain

  • Alastair Hayton1
  • Phivos Sofokleous2
  • Rachel Hayton1
  • Eamon Watson3
  • Lorraine McGilp3
  • Emma O’Neil3
  • Amanda O’Brien4
  • Keith Cutler1
  • Mike Coffey2
  • Georgios Banos2
  • Gordon D. Harkiss5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Synergy Farm Health Ltd
  2. 2SRUC Department of Animal Breeding and Genomics, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC)
  3. 3National Milk Recording
  4. 4Enfer Scientific
  5. 5MV Diagnostics Ltd, Roslin Innovation Centre, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Campus
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Abstract

Background: Herd level bovine tuberculosis (bTB) surveillance worldwide is based on tuberculin testing (TT). The World Organisation for Animal Health has approved Enferplex Bovine TB antibody test (EP) for diagnosing bTB using bulk tank milk (BTM) samples and the use of this methodology provides the potential for a more resource efficient system of herd surveillance for bTB than is the case with TT. We aimed to assess whether there would be any benefit of routine BTM testing in Great Britain (GB) with the EP to the surveillance and control of bTB.

Methods: We enrolled 4,830 dairy herds. Three sets of BTM samples were collected at three-month intervals from each herd without knowledge of their bTB status and analysed independently. A smaller cohort of 73 herds, that provided monthly samples over six months, was independently recruited. To provide a high confidence in the positive results, the risk of false positive results was minimised via minor adjustments to the test algorithm. To examine the impact on surveillance we assessed the prevalence and incidence of EP positive herds by the bTB risk area they were located and their bTB status based on Government surveillance data.

Results: Twenty-five percent of herds tested positive at least once. In herds under restriction throughout the study, and whose tuberculin reactor animals had been removed (n=240), the test detected 40.4% (95% CI: 34.2-46.9) as positive. Monthly BTM sampling significantly increased the percentage of positive herds over quarterly sampling from 45% (95% CI: 26.9-65.4) to 64% (95% CI: 42.9-80.4) (P< 0.001). In herds designated as Officially Tuberculosis Free (OTF) throughout the study, 19.4% (95% CI: 18.1-20.7) tested positive.

Conclusion: EP BTM testing registers substantial proportions of restricted and OTF herds as positive. EP adoption in surveillance programmes offers the potential for an overt improvement in bTB detection and thereby control.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{hayton2026enferplex,
  title = {{The Enferplex Bovine TB antibody test shows a significant degree of positivity in both restricted and officially tuberculosis free herds in a national study of bulk tank milk samples from dairy herds in Great Britain}},
  author = {Alastair Hayton and Phivos Sofokleous and Rachel Hayton and Eamon Watson and Lorraine McGilp and Emma O’Neil and Amanda O’Brien and Keith Cutler and Mike Coffey and Georgios Banos and Gordon D. Harkiss},
  journal = {Frontiers in Immunology},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2026.1779235},
  url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1779235/full},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - The Enferplex Bovine TB antibody test shows a significant degree of positivity in both restricted and officially tuberculosis free herds in a national study of bulk tank milk samples from dairy herds in Great Britain
AU  - Alastair Hayton
AU  - Phivos Sofokleous
AU  - Rachel Hayton
AU  - Eamon Watson
AU  - Lorraine McGilp
AU  - Emma O’Neil
AU  - Amanda O’Brien
AU  - Keith Cutler
AU  - Mike Coffey
AU  - Georgios Banos
AU  - Gordon D. Harkiss
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/28
JO  - Frontiers in Immunology
DO  - 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1779235
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1779235/full
AB  - Background: Herd level bovine tuberculosis (bTB) surveillance worldwide is based on tuberculin testing (TT). The World Organisation for Animal Health has approved Enferplex Bovine TB antibody test (EP) for diagnosing bTB using bulk tank milk (BTM) samples and the use of this methodology provides the potential for a more resource efficient system of herd surveillance for bTB than is the case with TT. We aimed to assess whether there would be any benefit of routine BTM testing in Great Britain (GB) with the EP to the surveillance and control of bTB.  Methods: We enrolled 4,830 dairy herds. Three sets of BTM samples were collected at three-month intervals from each herd without knowledge of their bTB status and analysed independently. A smaller cohort of 73 herds, that provided monthly samples over six months, was independently recruited. To provide a high confidence in the positive results, the risk of false positive results was minimised via minor adjustments to the test algorithm. To examine the impact on surveillance we assessed the prevalence and incidence of EP positive herds by the bTB risk area they were located and their bTB status based on Government surveillance data.  Results: Twenty-five percent of herds tested positive at least once. In herds under restriction throughout the study, and whose tuberculin reactor animals had been removed (n=240), the test detected 40.4% (95% CI: 34.2-46.9) as positive. Monthly BTM sampling significantly increased the percentage of positive herds over quarterly sampling from 45% (95% CI: 26.9-65.4) to 64% (95% CI: 42.9-80.4) (P< 0.001). In herds designated as Officially Tuberculosis Free (OTF) throughout the study, 19.4% (95% CI: 18.1-20.7) tested positive.  Conclusion: EP BTM testing registers substantial proportions of restricted and OTF herds as positive. EP adoption in surveillance programmes offers the potential for an overt improvement in bTB detection and thereby control.
SN  - 1664-3224
ER  -