Farmscape for September 10, 2020
A newly developed PCR test for Pseudorabies is able to differentiate the different strains of the virus.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Swine Health Information Center have completed the development and evaluation of a PCR-based diagnostic assay for rapid differential detection of Pseudorabies virus variants.
Pseudorabies, or Aujeszky's disease, was eradicated from the U.S. in the 1990's however a highly virulent strain that is different from the eradicated strain and the strain used in vaccines is circulating widely in China.
Swine Health Information Center Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says we learned from PED that we need to pay attention to those diseases circulating in Asia.
Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:
Dr. Aruna Ambagala at CFIA in Winnipeg was able to develop a PCR test that could use different sections of the Pseudorabies virus itself to be able to quickly tell which virus you had.
It takes a look at the Pseudorabies virus and tells us whether it's a highly pathogenic strain that is circulating in China or it's the strain that was previously here in the U.S. that was eradicated or it could even be the strain that was used in the eradication program.
The important thing is that we need to have effective diagnostic tests that can quickly detect and quickly differentiate that will help us to better be able to control any entry into the U.S. of Pseudorabies virus again.
It's a very important tool to help us be prepared to quickly respond, contain and recover from any incursion of this virus into the North American continent.
Dr. Sundberg says the test does a good job of detecting the highly pathogenic strain in China, which is very important because different types of biosecurity, biocontainment and response mechanisms may be needed for a highly pathogenic strain of Pseudorabies versus the strain that was eradicated from the U.S.
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Bruce Cochrane.
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