Translations:Advanced Field Epi:Manual 2 - Diagnostic Tests/228/en
Estimation from routine testing data
Where a disease is rare, and truly infected animals can be eliminated from the data, it is possible to estimate test specificity from routine testing results, such as in a disease control program ([#17 Seiler, 1979]). In this situation, test-positives are routinely subject to follow-up, so that truly infected animals are identified and removed from the population. It is also possible to identify and exclude tests from known infected herds or flocks. Specificity can then be estimated as: