Performance evaluation of two serological tests for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) detection in an enzootic area using a Bayesian framework

A Bayesian approach, allowing for conditional dependence between two tests was used to estimate without gold standard the sensitivities of complement fixation test (CFT) and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test (cELISA) and the serological prevalence of CBPP in a cattle population of the Central Delta of the Niger River in Mali, where CBPP is enzootic and the true prevalence and animals serological state were unknown. A significant difference (P = 0.99) was observed between the sensitivities of the two tests, estimated at 73.7% (95% probability interval [PI], 63.4-82.7) for cELISA and 42.3% (95% PI, 33.3-53.7) for CFT. Individual-level serological prevalence in the study population was estimated at 14.1% (95% PI, 10.8-16.9). Our results indicate that in enzootic areas, cELISA performs better in terms of sensitivity than CFT. However, negative conditional sensitivity dependence between the two tests was detected, implying that to achieve maximum sensitivity, the two tests should be applied in parallel.