National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health - National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2021 Mar;68(2):952-959. doi: 10.1111/tbed.13770. Epub 2020 Aug 31.
African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread across Asia, devastating pig populations. The disease is nearly 100% fatal in pigs, and currently, there is no effective vaccine available. Therefore, early detection of ASF is critical for effective disease control. The testing process usually requires samples to be shipped to a central laboratory, which may take many hours of travel or shipping time, delaying the results needed for a rapid response. The ability to confirm ASFV-infected animals on-site or in a regional laboratory that has limited technical capacity and/or infrastructure should eliminate these issues. This study describes the successful transfer of a highly sensitive and specific laboratory-validated real-time PCR assay to a portable pen-side thermocycler, which can be operated in the field for rapid detection of ASFV following a quick manual nucleic acid extraction from a wide array of clinical samples including aggregate samples such as oral fluids. The performance of the portable assay was comparable to the laboratory-based assay. The true portability of the assay was evaluated in seven ASF-suspected farms in Vietnam by testing eighty-nine freshly collected whole blood samples on-site. The results obtained on-site were in agreement with the laboratory data obtained the following day. Availability of this field-deployable molecular assay would eliminate the need to ship samples to a central laboratory, when rapid laboratory results are required, ultimately improving the response time.
非洲猪瘟（ASF）继续在亚洲蔓延，对猪群造成严重破坏。这种疾病在猪中的致死率几乎达到 100%，目前尚无有效的疫苗。因此，早期检测 ASF 对于有效控制疾病至关重要。检测过程通常需要将样本运送到中央实验室，这可能需要数小时的运输或运输时间，从而延迟了快速反应所需的结果。在现场或技术能力和/或基础设施有限的区域实验室中确认感染 ASF 的动物的能力应消除这些问题。本研究描述了一种高灵敏度和特异性的实验室验证实时 PCR 检测方法成功转移到便携式笔式热循环仪上，可以在现场进行快速检测，只需从广泛的临床样本（包括聚合样本，如口腔液）中快速手动提取核酸即可。该便携式检测方法的性能与基于实验室的检测方法相当。该检测方法的真正便携性在越南的七个疑似 ASF 的农场进行了评估，对现场采集的 89 份新鲜全血样本进行了检测。现场获得的结果与第二天获得的实验室数据一致。这种现场可部署的分子检测方法的可用性将消除在需要快速实验室结果时将样本运送到中央实验室的需求，最终提高响应时间。
