Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), a coronavirus-mediated enteric disease, emerged in US swine unexpectedly in 2013. While introduction pathway of disease to the US was unknown, the US swine industry had to deal with the new disease. Although the pan-coronavirus PCR test with sequencing at Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (ISUVDL) allowed the initial identification of PED virus (PEDV), this test was considered inadequate for routine high-throughput diagnostic testing.
There was then an urgent need to develop an array of validated high-throughput tests as well as other reagents for PEDV for use in diagnosis of disease outbreaks, epidemiological investigations, and the management and/or elimination of PED. That was the objective of the study. Efforts were made on developing various diagnostic tools for PEDV such as virus isolation, PCR assay, immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay, antibody assays through literature review, collaboration with foreign scientists with appropriate expertise in PEDV and continuous monitoring of test performance once implemented. As a result, ISUVDL was able to offer a variety of laboratory tests fitting swine veterinarians and producers’ needs (e.g., diagnosis, monitoring, surveillance, etc). At the same time, virus isolates and laboratory methods became valuable tools for research endeavor to understand the pathogenesis and control of PEDV. These studies in turn will produce additional scientific information which are critical for effective control of PED in the US.
Contact info:
Kyoungjin Yoon, DVM, PhD
Professor, Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine
Section Leader of Virology and Molecular R&D, Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory
College of Veterinary Medicine
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
(Phone) 515-294-1083""
(Email) [email protected]