Diagnostics

Question 1

Why do we identify infectious disease?

Answer 1

• Knowledge of likely spread
• Epidemiology- protect other animals
• Choice of treatment- resistance to antibiotics, change the treatment

Question 2

How can we diagnose infection?

Answer 2

-Grow the agent
-Look for a response to the target
-look for DNA/RNA of the agent
-Look for pathological signs
Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Question 3

Considerations when growing an infectious organism

Answer 3

• Is it aerobic or anaerobic
• can it cause disease or is it a contaminant
• How quickly does it grow?
• Can I grow it at all?

Question 4

Pros of growing an infectious agent

Answer 4

• Know you have a live organism
• positive identification
• No prediction is necessary
• Can test it for antibiotic resistance

Question 5

Cons of growing infectious agents

Answer 5

• False positives are common for some diseases

- Slow, by the time it;’s grown the animal could be dead.

Question 6

Looking for a response

Answer 6

• Dipstick test= lateral flow device
• ELISA- antigens and antibodies
• Microscopic agglutination test, take a serum from an animal with a known bacteria and see if it goes clumpy

Question 7

Looking for a response 2

Answer 7

• Can look for an antigen circulating in the blood, using an antibody to capture this
• can look for antibody- IgG or IgM
• Binding makes complexes: MAT visible, detected by a second antibody once it’s detected

Question 8

who is ELISA