Bovine Respiratory Virus Diagnostic Test Performance from 760 Nasal Swabs

Bayesian latent class modeling was used to estimate the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of qPCR and nanopore metagenomic sequencing for five viruses associated with bovine respiratory disease. The dataset contains results from 760 nasal swabs collected from 19 western Canadian feedlots, comparing the two diagnostic methods. Emmanuel Donbraye published the data under a CC-BY-4.0 license, with the file last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Compare diagnostic test performance (sensitivity and specificity) for bovine respiratory viruses based on Bayesian latent class modeling results.
• Benchmark nanopore metagenomic sequencing against qPCR for pathogen detection based on the described test estimates.
• Analyze the prevalence and detection rates of specific viruses (BCoV, BoHV-1, BPIV-3, BRSV, IDV) in feedlot cattle based on the sample data.
• Inform diagnostic laboratory protocol selection for bovine respiratory disease based on the comparative performance metrics provided.

Strengths

• Provides comparative diagnostic metrics (sensitivity, specificity) for two laboratory methods across five viruses.
• Analysis is based on 760 nasal swab samples from 19 feedlots, offering a substantive sample size.
• Uses Bayesian latent class modeling, a recognized statistical method for test evaluation without a gold standard.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the western Canadian feedlot source.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Emmanuel Donbraye.

Collection Method

Nasal swabs were collected from fall-placed calves and yearlings at feedlot arrival, with viruses identified via qPCR and nanopore metagenomic sequencing.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-17 13:07:30; freshness should be verified.

Geography

19 western Canadian feedlots.