Early detection of piscirickettsiosis is an important purpose of government‐ and industry‐based surveillance for the disease in Atlantic salmon farms in Chile. Real‐time qPCRs are currently used for surveillance because bacterial isolation is inadequately sensitive or rapid enough for routine use. Since no perfect tests exist, we used Bayesian latent class models to estimate diagnostic sensitivity (DSe) and specificity (DSp) of qPCR and culture using separate two‐test, single‐population models for three farms (n = 148, 151, 44). Informative priors were used for DSp (culture (beta(999,1); qPCR (beta(98,2)), and flat priors (beta 1,1) for DSe and prevalence. Models were run for liver and kidney tissues combined and separately, based on the presence of selected gross‐pathological signs. Across all models, qPCR DSe was 5‐ to 30‐fold greater than for culture. Combined‐tissue qPCR median DSe was highest in Farm 3 (sampled during P. salmonis outbreak (DSe = 97.6%)) versus Farm 1 (DSe = 85.6%) or Farm 2 (DSe = 83.5%), both sampled before clinical disease. Median DSe of qPCR was similar for liver and kidney, but higher when gross‐pathological signs were evident at necropsy. High DSe and DSp and rapid turnaround‐time indicate that the qPCR is fit for surveillance programmes and diagnosis during an outbreak. Targeted testing of salmon with gross‐pathological signs can enhance DSe.

中文翻译：

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贝叶斯估计法对智利养殖大西洋鲑鱼（Salmo salar L.）中的鲑鱼的拟南芥的qPCR和细菌培养方法的诊断敏感性和特异性。

在智利和大西洋的鲑鱼养殖场，尽早发现沙特立克体病是政府和行业对这种疾病进行监测的重要目的。实时定量PCR目前用于监测，因为细菌分离灵敏度不足或不够快，无法常规使用。由于没有完善的测试，我们使用贝叶斯潜伏类模型来估计qPCR和培养的诊断敏感性（DSe）和特异性（DSp），使用三个场的单独的两次测试，单种群模型（n  = 148、151、44） 。信息性先验用于DSp（培养（beta（999,1）; qPCR（beta（98,2））），固定先验（beta 1,1）用于DSe和流行。根据选定的总体病理征象的存在，分别对肝和肾组织进行了组合模型研究。在所有模型中，qPCR DSe都比培养的大5到30倍。场3（在鲑鱼疫病暴发期间取样（DSe  = 97.6％））与场1（DSe  = 85.6％）或场2（DSe  = 83.5％）的组合组织qPCR中值DSe最高，均在临床疾病之前进行取样。肝脏和肾脏的qPCR中值DSe相似，但尸检时明显的总体病理征象则更高。高DSe和DSp快速的周转时间表明qPCR适合爆发期间的监视程序和诊断。对鲑鱼进行大体病理征象的针对性检测可以增强DSe。