New Study Utilizes Endemic Disease Data for Detecting Emerging Diseases

A Swine Health Information Center-funded study has investigated if an increase in negative test results for endemic pathogens could be utilized as an early warning signal for emerging diseases. Led by Giovani Trevisan at Iowa State University, a team of scientists from six veterinary diagnostic labs evaluated different surveillance models using endemic enteric coronavirus PCR-negative test results to predict novel enteric coronavirus emergence. As an alternative approach to detect a new animal health threat causing similar clinical signs, the researchers determined that the TGEV negative-based monitoring system functioned well for the 2013 PEDV epidemic. Specifically, results demonstrated that emerging disease alarms could be identified four weeks earlier than the first official diagnosis of PEDV in the US. Unexpected increases in negative test results can serve as a warning system to alert veterinarians and producers of an emerging swine disease. Routine monitoring of laboratory sub