Abstract
Serology is a vital tool for disease surveillance but relies on obtaining blood samples, which can be difficult especially from wildlife species. Meat Juice Serology (MJS) presents an alternative but requires validation before being more confidently and widely applied. Here, MJS was performed on cattle and wild deer samples from Northern Ireland, to detect antibodies to the viruses that cause Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) (Pestivirus A/B and Bovine Herpesvirus-1 (BoHV-1), respectively). Greater mean volumes of meat juice were obtained from cattle tissue frozen at -20⁰C than those at -80⁰C (p < 0.05). Antibodies to Pestivirus (unspeciated), were detected in three (2.6%) deer serum samples (n = 116), and one paired meat juice sample from deer neck muscle. No antibodies to IBR were detected in any deer (n = 116). In cattle, p80 ELISA performed at recommended dilution (1:9) (n = 40) and showed high correlation between serum and meat juice (r = 0.64, p < 0.05), but poor correlation at adjusted dilution (1:1) (n = 37, r = 0.18, p = 0.28). In deer, meat juice tested at adjusted dilution (1:1) (n = 94) showed moderate correlation with serum tested at recommended dilution (r = 0.49, p < 0.05). For IBR, cattle were tested on gE ELISA (n = 40). High correlation was found between serum and meat juice, tested to manufacturer’s recommended dilution (rho = 0.57, p < 0.05). Deer samples were tested on gB ELISA, and meat juice correlated poorly to serum (n = 113) at both recommended (1:1) (n = 113, r = 0.13, p = 0.25) and adjusted (9:1) dilution (n = 113, r = 0.08, p = 0.52). Meat juice serology may represent an appropriate alternative to serum for Pestivirus and BoHV-1 in cattle, without the need to modify dilution. In deer, this study indicates that meat juice may be used to monitor for Pestivirus, but cannot be recommended for BoHV-1, without further evaluation and quality control.