Short communication: Performance of a blocking antibody ELISA bulk-tank milk test for detection of dairy sheep flocks exposed to border disease virus

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the test characteristics of a blocking antibody ELISA applied to bulk-tank milk (BTM) samples for the detection of dairy sheep flocks positive for antibodies to border disease virus. In 161 flocks recruited in 2009 and 2010, the antibody inhibition percentage (AIP) in BTM was compared with the prevalence estimate of antibody-positive ewes obtained from an age-representative sample of 45 milking ewes. A strong negative exponential relationship (R 2 =0.89) was found between AIP in BTM and seroprevalence level. Using receiver operating characteristic analysis, the best AIP decision threshold in BTM to discriminate between low ( Pestivirus control schemes in dairy sheep flocks.