The incidence of Dictyocaulus viviparus infections in cattle in The Netherlands. I. The Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay as a diagnostic tool.

The Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) provides a very efficient technique for detecting antibodies against Dictyocaulus vivparus in calves. Although low level cross reactions were found in animals with gastrointestinal nematodes, the specificity and sensitivity of the technique are sufficient for herd diagnosis of lungworm infections and for survey work. This conclusion is reached on the basis of artificially and naturally infected calves. ELISA titres correlate well with Indirect Haemagglutination titres, parasitological findings, and clinical observations.