Post by Shawn on Nov 19, 2008 17:25:03 GMT -5
Well, as you may remember (or not. ) I've been trying to buy a cow and have had one come up BLV positive on the ELISA test. So, trying to get a PCR test done to confirm/deny the first results.
Long story short: I was told that K-state would take a blood sample & ship to College Station Vet School and they could run the test. I even had the phone #'s for the vet. the vet called K-State. Someone there told him no, they don't do that. I got on the Texas School website and no, it's not a listed test (probably clerical error) but it IS listed in their fee schedule for the tests. So I called College Station directly and yes, they'll do it for me, just one test, and yes, I can ship straight to them, (sort of like Biotracking). So now all I have to do is get the blood out of the cow - any volunteers?
It has to be shipped in a purple tube, overnighted to them. Results in less than 5 days by e-mail. And the cost? $25. What a deal.
Now, if you needed these results to prove your cow/bull was BLV free, of course you'd want a vet to do the draw, etc. But since it's just to prove it to me, well, hey, skip the middle man here!
Anyway, just wanted to let some of you know. If you've got a BLV positive cow, it's probably from an ELISA screening test. So you can dig deeper to find out really if she has BLV. It's sort of like if you've been immunized for mumps, and you were "screened" for mumps with the ELISA test, it would show you had mumps, when really it shows you have the antibodies because you were "exposed" to the mumps vaccine. So you do the PCR test to look for the actual DNA of the virus. Because if the virus is active in her system, they can locate the DNA of it and say yes, she's got the virus.
Now, this may have been more than you wanted to know ;D but I'm excited about finally getting to the bottom of this because I feel like I've been beating my head against a brick wall trying to move forward on this. And all the while that sweet little Polly's face is saying "Take me home."
Long story short: I was told that K-state would take a blood sample & ship to College Station Vet School and they could run the test. I even had the phone #'s for the vet. the vet called K-State. Someone there told him no, they don't do that. I got on the Texas School website and no, it's not a listed test (probably clerical error) but it IS listed in their fee schedule for the tests. So I called College Station directly and yes, they'll do it for me, just one test, and yes, I can ship straight to them, (sort of like Biotracking). So now all I have to do is get the blood out of the cow - any volunteers?
It has to be shipped in a purple tube, overnighted to them. Results in less than 5 days by e-mail. And the cost? $25. What a deal.
Now, if you needed these results to prove your cow/bull was BLV free, of course you'd want a vet to do the draw, etc. But since it's just to prove it to me, well, hey, skip the middle man here!
Anyway, just wanted to let some of you know. If you've got a BLV positive cow, it's probably from an ELISA screening test. So you can dig deeper to find out really if she has BLV. It's sort of like if you've been immunized for mumps, and you were "screened" for mumps with the ELISA test, it would show you had mumps, when really it shows you have the antibodies because you were "exposed" to the mumps vaccine. So you do the PCR test to look for the actual DNA of the virus. Because if the virus is active in her system, they can locate the DNA of it and say yes, she's got the virus.
Now, this may have been more than you wanted to know ;D but I'm excited about finally getting to the bottom of this because I feel like I've been beating my head against a brick wall trying to move forward on this. And all the while that sweet little Polly's face is saying "Take me home."