Abstract
BackgroundAnimal disease monitoring and surveillance are crucial for ensuring the health of animals, humans and the environment. Many studies have investigated the utility of monitoring syndromes associated with data from veterinary laboratory submissions, but no research has focused on how negative test results from a veterinary diagnostic laboratory data can be used to improve our knowledge of disease outbreaks. For example, if a diagnostic laboratory was seeing a disproportionate number of negative test results for a known disease could this information be an indication of a novel disease outbreak? The objective of this study was to determine the association between the porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD) outbreak in Ontario 2004–2006 and the results of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PPRSV) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the results of PRRSV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic tests requested by veterinarians.ResultsRetrospective data were collected from the Animal Health Laboratory (AHL) at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Canada and were comprised of weekly counts of PRRSV ELISA and PRRSV PCR diagnostic tests requested by swine practitioners from 2000–2007. The results of the PRRSV ELISA and PRRSV PCRs were analysed separately in two models using logistic regression with the dependent variables being: the weekly probability of PRRSV ELISA positivity, and the weekly probability of PRRSV PCR positivity, respectively. The weekly probability of PRRSV PCR positivity decreased during the PVCAD outbreak (OR=0.66, P=0.01). The weekly probability of PRRSV ELISA positivity was not associated with the PCVAD outbreak.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that during the PCVAD outbreak in Ontario from December 2004-May 2006, the probability of a positive PRRSV PCR at the AHL decreased. We conclude that when a decrease in test positivity occurs for a known disease, it may suggest that a new disease agent is emerging in the population. Hence, monitoring the test results of commonly used first-order tests for a known disease (e.g. PRRSV) has the potential to be a unique form of syndromic data for the timely identification of novel disease outbreaks in swine populations.
Highlights
Animal disease monitoring and surveillance are crucial for ensuring the health of animals, humans and the environment
The distribution of the weekly probability of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) positivity and the weekly probability of PRRSV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity are presented in Figures 1 and 2, respectively
The time series plots of the weekly probabilities of PRRSV ELISA positivity and PRRSV PCR positivity are presented in Figures 3 and 4, respectively
Summary
Animal disease monitoring and surveillance are crucial for ensuring the health of animals, humans and the environment. Many studies have investigated the utility of monitoring syndromes associated with data from veterinary laboratory submissions, but no research has focused on how negative test results from a veterinary diagnostic laboratory data can be used to improve our knowledge of disease outbreaks. In addition to playing a role in determining disease etiology, the data are crucial in providing essential health information for disease monitoring and passive disease surveillance systems of livestock industries worldwide [1,2,3]. The use of laboratory data for passive disease surveillance is limited by its lack of timeliness in identifying disease outbreaks, re-emerging diseases, or novel pathogens [2,4,5]. Current research is actively investigating novel methods to improve the use of laboratory-derived data in disease monitoring and surveillance capacities [6,7,8]
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