The Original BVD-PI Testing Laboratory

CST has extensively evaluated pooling with Elisa technology in an attempt to lower testing costs. In 2006 we identified conditions where negative animals could mask the signal of positive animals resulting in false negative test results. We then conducted several research studies in an attempt to identify what was causing these false negative results when samples were pooled. Although we could not identify what was causing this effect we suspect it could be antibody interference or factors involved in cell mediated immunity. In a research study CST participated in with the National Animal Disease Center of the USDA, factors other than antibodies caused false negative results in detecting calves PI with Hobi-like pestivirus. In response to these findings, CST does not pool and will not condone pooling of samples.