Testing large quantities of samples to detect one or more positive sample(s) is expensive and time consuming. Pooling of samples can optimize this process. Several different pooling schemes were simulated to compare the efficiency as a function of prevalence and number of pooled samples.The sensitivity of ELISAs on pooled samples for antibodies in bovine milk to Salmonella Dublin (SD), Mycobacterium avium spp. paratuberculosis (PTB), and bovine virus diarrhea was tested; alongside ELISAs for antibodies in serum to SD, PTB and infectiousbovine rhinotracheitis. For milk assays the sensitivity decreased rapidly with increased pool sizes. However, for serum the detection limits were between 25 and 100 individual samples.The best pooling scheme depended mainly on the prevalence and the sensitivity of the test in a pooled sample. The combinatorial scheme named Shifted Transversal Design proved to be the best framework for determining the most efficient pooling scheme.
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