Iowa State vets pioneer method to collect diagnostic samples from pigs

Iowa State veterans collected oral fluid samples by hanging ropes in the pigpens, which the naturally inquisitive pigs chewed on.
Iowa State veterans collected oral fluid samples by hanging ropes in the pigpens, which the naturally inquisitive pigs chewed on. | File photo

Iowa State University veterinarians are pioneering a more efficient and more cost-effective way to collect diagnostic samples from pigs, replacing difficult-to-collect blood samples with oral fluid samples.

ISU Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine Jeff Zimmerman and his colleagues were working to study porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in 2005 and struggled with the time and cost demands of taking blood samples from individual pigs. To overcome this problem, they collected oral fluid samples by hanging ropes in the pigpens, which the naturally inquisitive pigs chewed on.

Initially the researchers did not know if this collection method would yield usable data, but they quickly found that oral fluid samples can help detect an array of infections, including porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, foot and mouth disease, and classical swine fever.

Through their testing, the ISU team has determined that cotton rope produces better testing results than nylon or hemp, and as they refine the method it is quickly catching on. In 2015, the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory tested 176,167 oral fluid samples, a significant increase on the 10,268 samples tested in 2010.  The method is also gaining popularity among producers in Europe, the Americas and Asia.