The efficacy of mesenteric lymph node biopsy in the eradication of paratuberculosis from an infected dairy farm

Lymph node biopsy was performed on animals older than nine months on a dairy farm which carried 223 animals and was severely affected by paratuberculosis. Biopsies were examined histologically and bacteriologically for the presence of M. paratuberculosis infection. In this way paratuberculosis infection was diagnosed in 29 animals, in which other diagnostic methods (serum complement fixation test, intradermal johnin test and microscopic examination of the faeces) produced negative results. The value of lymph node biopsy is the early detection of infected animals. In the two years after the biopsies, no further cases of clinical paratuberculosis were detected on the affected farm, although infection with M. paratuberculosis persisted.