[Two years BVD ear notch samples diagnostics--results from 16 districts of Lower Saxony]

Since June 1st 2010 all calves in Lower Saxony are tested by ear notch samples for the presence of Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD) Virus based on the Lower Saxony BVDV-regulation. Since January 1st 2011 the new German BVDV-act requires an examination of the calves in the first 6 months of their life. In the Institute for Animal Health of LUFA Nord-West 1000-2000 ear notch samples originating from 16 rural districts are tested daily. In the period from June 1st 2010 to May 31st 2012 a total of 524,214 tissue samples were examined by an antigen ERNS ELISA. In case of low positive results the tests were verified by PCR. 2454 ear notch samples (0.47%) were from persistently with BVDV infected calves (PI-calves) coming from 763 farms (10.2% of the participating farms). In the first seven months of the eradication program 0.75% of the tested samples were positive. This number decreased in the year 2011 to 0.52%. In the first 5 months of 2012, only 0.18% of the ear notch samples tested positive.