Latent class evaluation of the performance of serological tests for exposure to Brucella spp. in cattle, sheep, and goats in Tanzania

Bodenham, R. F. et al. (2021) Latent class evaluation of the performance of serological tests for exposure to Brucella spp. in cattle, sheep, and goats in Tanzania. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 15(8), e0009630. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009630) (PMID:34428205) (PMCID:PMC8384210)

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Abstract

Background: Brucellosis is a neglected zoonosis endemic in many countries, including regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Evaluated diagnostic tools for the detection of exposure to Brucella spp. are important for disease surveillance and guiding prevention and control activities. Methods and findings: Bayesian latent class analysis was used to evaluate performance of the Rose Bengal plate test (RBT) and a competitive ELISA (cELISA) in detecting Brucella spp. exposure at the individual animal-level for cattle, sheep, and goats in Tanzania. Median posterior estimates of RBT sensitivity were: 0.779 (95% Bayesian credibility interval (BCI): 0.570–0.894), 0.893 (0.636–0.989), and 0.807 (0.575–0.966), and for cELISA were: 0.623 (0.443–0.790), 0.409 (0.241–0.644), and 0.561 (0.376–0.713), for cattle, sheep, and goats, respectively. Sensitivity BCIs were wide, with the widest for cELISA in sheep. RBT and cELISA median posterior estimates of specificity were high across species models: RBT ranged between 0.989 (0.980–0.998) and 0.995 (0.985–0.999), and cELISA between 0.984 (0.974–0.995) and 0.996 (0.988–1). Each species model generated seroprevalence estimates for two livestock subpopulations, pastoralist and non-pastoralist. Pastoralist seroprevalence estimates were: 0.063 (0.045–0.090), 0.033 (0.018–0.049), and 0.051 (0.034–0.076), for cattle, sheep, and goats, respectively. Non-pastoralist seroprevalence estimates were below 0.01 for all species models. Series and parallel diagnostic approaches were evaluated. Parallel outperformed a series approach. Median posterior estimates for parallel testing were ≥0.920 (0.760–0.986) for sensitivity and ≥0.973 (0.955–0.992) for specificity, for all species models. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that Brucella spp. surveillance in Tanzania using RBT and cELISA in parallel at the animal-level would give high test performance. There is a need to evaluate strategies for implementing parallel testing at the herd- and flock-level. Our findings can assist in generating robust Brucella spp. exposure estimates for livestock in Tanzania and wider sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption of locally evaluated robust diagnostic tests in setting-specific surveillance is an important step towards brucellosis prevention and control.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:De Glanville, Dr William and Haydon, Professor Daniel and Bodenham, Dr Rebecca and Cleaveland, Professor Sarah and Halliday, Dr Jo and Thomas, Dr Kate
Creator Roles:
Bodenham, R. F.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Cleaveland, S.Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Writing – review and editing
de Glanville, W. A.Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Haydon, D. T.Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Thomas, K. M.Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – review and editing
Halliday, J. E.B.Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Authors: Bodenham, R. F., Mazeri, S., Cleaveland, S., Crump, J. A., Fasina, F. O., de Glanville, W. A., Haydon, D. T., Kazwala, R. R., Kibona, T. J., Maro, V. P., Maze, M. J., Mmbagna, B. T., Mtui-Malamsha, N. J., Shirima, G. M., Swai, E. S., Thomas, K. M., Bronsvoort, B. M. d., and Halliday, J. E.B.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Journal Name:PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1935-2727
ISSN (Online):1935-2735
Published Online:24 August 2021
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2021 Bodenham et al.
First Published:First published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15(8): e0009630
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
Data DOI:10.5525/gla.researchdata.1121

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
190785Molecular epidemology of brucellosis in northern TanzaniaDaniel HaydonBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/L018845/1Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
190821Hazards associated with zoonotic enteric pathogens in emerging livestock meat pathways (HAZEL)Ruth ZadoksBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/L017679/1Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
304761Operationalising One Health Interventions in Tanzania (OOHTZ)Sarah CleavelandBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/S013857/1Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
171979Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems ZELS Reducing the risk to livestock and people programme associated studentships - ZELS-ASSarah CleavelandBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/N503563/1Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine
190437Impact, ecology and social determinants of bacterial zoonoses in northern TanzaniaSarah CleavelandBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/J010367/1Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine