TY - JOUR
T1 - Postmortem Sampling in Piglet Populations
T2 - Unveiling Specimens Accuracy for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Detection
AU - Kikuti, Mariana
AU - Melini, Claudio Marcello
AU - Yue, Xiaomei
AU - Culhane, Marie
AU - Corzo, Cesar A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/8
Y1 - 2024/8
N2 - Specimens collected from dead pigs are a welfare-friendly and cost-effective active surveillance. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of different postmortem specimens from dead piglets for disease detection, using PRRSV as an example. Three farrow-to-wean farms undergoing PRRSV elimination were conveniently selected. Samples were collected at approximately 8- and 20-weeks post-outbreak. Postmortem specimens included nasal (NS), oral (OS), and rectal (RS) swabs, tongue-tip fluids (TTF), superficial inguinal lymph nodes (SIL), and intracardiac blood. These were tested individually for PRRSV by RT-PCR. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and agreement of postmortem specimens were calculated using intracardiac sera as the gold standard. OS and SIL had the best overall performance, with sensitivities of 94.6–100%, specificities of 83.9–85.1%, and negative predictive values of 97.3–100%. TTF had high sensitivity (92.2%) but low specificity (53.9%) and positive predictive value (48.3%). While challenges in meeting sampling targets due to variable pre-weaning mortality were noted, PRRS was detected in all postmortem specimens. OS and NS showed promising results for disease monitoring, though TTF, despite their sensitivity, had lower specificity, making them less suitable for individual infection assessment but useful for assessing environmental contamination.
AB - Specimens collected from dead pigs are a welfare-friendly and cost-effective active surveillance. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of different postmortem specimens from dead piglets for disease detection, using PRRSV as an example. Three farrow-to-wean farms undergoing PRRSV elimination were conveniently selected. Samples were collected at approximately 8- and 20-weeks post-outbreak. Postmortem specimens included nasal (NS), oral (OS), and rectal (RS) swabs, tongue-tip fluids (TTF), superficial inguinal lymph nodes (SIL), and intracardiac blood. These were tested individually for PRRSV by RT-PCR. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values, and agreement of postmortem specimens were calculated using intracardiac sera as the gold standard. OS and SIL had the best overall performance, with sensitivities of 94.6–100%, specificities of 83.9–85.1%, and negative predictive values of 97.3–100%. TTF had high sensitivity (92.2%) but low specificity (53.9%) and positive predictive value (48.3%). While challenges in meeting sampling targets due to variable pre-weaning mortality were noted, PRRS was detected in all postmortem specimens. OS and NS showed promising results for disease monitoring, though TTF, despite their sensitivity, had lower specificity, making them less suitable for individual infection assessment but useful for assessing environmental contamination.
KW - PRRSV detection
KW - diagnostic accuracy
KW - disease monitoring
KW - postmortem sampling
KW - specimen sensitivity
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U2 - 10.3390/pathogens13080649
DO - 10.3390/pathogens13080649
M3 - Article
C2 - 39204249
AN - SCOPUS:85202547550
SN - 2076-0817
VL - 13
JO - Pathogens
JF - Pathogens
IS - 8
M1 - 649
ER -