A Point-of-Need Test for Transboundary Diseases of Pigs

Pork accounts for more than one-third of meat consumed globally. The United States is the second largest producer of pork in the world. Keeping transboundary pathogens out of the country is in our national economic interests. To that end, Lynntech is developing a port- and pen-side diagnostic for field detection of transboundary pathogens. In this Phase I proposal we will develop an assay to detect three viruses of pigs not currently in the United States: African Swine Fever virus (ASFV), Classical Swine Fever virus (CSFV), and Foot and Mouth Disease virus (FMDV). These viruses can be transmitted through contaminated feed or importation of infected pigs. Introduction into the United States would devastate the American swine industry. Our assay will utilize nucleic acid amplification in a proprietary device which is portable and capable of battery operation. Utilizing nucleic acid amplification increases the sensitivity of our proposed assay. Our assay will not use fluorescent dyes for detection but rather a visual means, reducing the equipment requirements and the need for trained personnel to interpret results. The proposed work will develop the system then validate the specificity of our assay toward viral nucleic acids and multiplex the detection against multiple viruses. We can add further targets in future work. We believe that our swine biothreat detection assay will have broad appeal to government agencies as well as commercial swine producers.