Investigating the feasibility of adapting a direct PCR diagnostics approach to in-field animal testing

BGR has developed a method for detecting viral pathogens directly from patients, removing the requirement for complex lab facilities or expert use. While human diagnostics has evolved, there has been little progress for testing animals for important pathogens. The UK foot and mouth disease outbreaks in 2001 cost the country over £3bn in losses to the agriculture sector alone and more rapid diagnostics would minimise the spread and impact of diseases. This proposal is to adapt the BGR technology from detecting pathogens like Ebola from human blood to being able to detect diseases like foot and mouth disease virus from blood or a simple swab from animals suspected of harbouring diseases. BGR have previously developed a test for dengue in humans that can simultaneously detect up to seven different viruses from 1 simple test. It should be possible to differentiate between different veterinary diseases that display similar symptoms using this approach. The tests take fifty minutes to complete and could be performed at pen-side, rapid diagnosis and response are key to preventing the spread of these dangerous pathogens. There are a number of diseases such as FMD, BTV and PPR that are OIE notifiable, they have to be reported if suspected or found, and these could be combined into a single test. These diseases are found endemically in particular locations or with a much higher frequency in areas in the world such as Africa and Asia and as such this technology would have global applications, driving UK manufacture and exports. In this project BGR will build a new reaction vessel for performing its in-tube detection that can take a wide range of sample types. This would mean being able to test for a range of diseases from blood sample, saliva or a nasal swab sample, as different diseases are detected in differing body fluids. The second stage will be for a vet to take samples (blood and swabs) from healthy cows, pigs, goats and sheep at RVC and then test these in the lab by spiking in known amounts of a harmless virus, to determine the suitability of each sample type. Lastly, the test will be applied to archived blood and swab samples at the Pirbright institute for testing on real world samples infected with a dangerous pathogen to determine the sensitivity and specificity of each sample type and then BGR will move towards commercialisation of appropriate tests.