PERP-ID - Point of care diagnostic for lung pathogens of pigs

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Lung infections are responsible for substantial suffering, deaths, and economic loss in the worldwide pig industry. Infections are caused by bacteria, viruses or a combination of the two. Control of lung infections is by the use of good farm practices (e.g. avoiding overcrowding), antibiotics and/or vaccines. However, antimicrobial resistance is a problem and there is a lack of effective vaccines for most pathogens, hence, pig lung infections are a substantial burden to the industry. For effective control, identifying the pathogens causing pig lung infections is crucial and dependent on diagnostic tests. However, current tests are slow - it can take many days to get the results back from the laboratory - and many tests are required, one for each bacterium or virus. At the request of extensive feedback from veterinarians, pork producers, farm managers, and policy makers, we propose to develop one test that can rapidly and cheaply detect major bacterial and viral lung pathogens of pigs,and can be used at the farm - a so-called a point of care test. The PorcinE Respiratory Pathogen-IDentification (PERP-ID) device will be designed to identify the five bacterial and three major viral pathogens of pig lungs, and will be based on an electronic system developed at Imperial College London that can rapidly detect the presence of specific DNA molecules. Results can immediately be sent from the farm to local and/or global locations via a smart phone enabling fast remedial action at the farm e.g. giving appropriate antibiotics. Once developed, we will analyse clinical samples and compare the results obtained from PERP-ID with those from currently used diagnostic tests. The successful development of PERP-ID will allow more rapid and cheaper diagnosis of lung disease in pigs caused by bacteria and viruses, and result in a substantial reduction in suffering, death, antibiotic use, and economic losses in the worldwide pig industry.