• In the field, pigs are exposed to different coronaviruses that are known to share genetic and antigenic traits that may contribute to false-positive results. Recent evidence suggesting potential antigenic cross-reactivity between PEDV and TGEV and between PEDV and PDCoV has raised concerns about the specificity of PEDV serologic testing based on targets containing the most conserved antigenic regions (e.g., N, M, and WV).
• The major obstacle to the development and assessment of specific and sensitive porcine coronavirus antibody assays is the lack of diagnostic specimens from pigs of precisely known TGEV, PRCV, PEDV, or PDCoV infection status.
• Except under extremely rare circumstances, samples from animals in the field are not very useful in assay development because their true infection status is unknown. For this reason, it is not possible to interpret discordant results.
• The primary purpose of this project was to provide researchers the samples needed to continue the process of porcine coronavirus assay development and improvement. Assay development is not possible in the absence of a sufficient number of samples of precisely known infection status.
• In addition, samples shared among researchers will provide a common basis for comparing the performance of different tests. This common foundation provides for test development and improvement in various, independent laboratories simultaneously.