Bioaerosol and surface sampling for the surveillance of influenza A virus in swine

Abstract

SUMMARY Influenza A virus in swine is of significant importance to human and veterinary public health. Environmental sampling techniques that prove practical would enhance surveillance for influenza viruses in swine. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of bioaerosol and surface sampling for the detection of influenza virus in swine barns with a secondary objective of piloting a mobile application for data collection. Sampling was conducted at a large swine operation between July 2016 and August 2017. Swine oral fluids and surface swabs were collected from multiple rooms. Room‐level air samples were collected using four bioaerosol samplers: a low volume polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filter sampler, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's low volume cyclone sampler, a 2‐stage Andersen impactor and/or one high volume cyclonic sampler. Samples were analysed using quantitative RT‐PCR. Data and results were reported using a mobile data application. Eighty‐nine composite oral fluid samples, 70 surface swabs and 122 bioaerosol samples were analysed. Detection rates for influenza virus RNA in swine barn samples were 71.1% for oral fluids, 70.8% for surface swabs and 71.1% for the PTFE sampler. Analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between the results of the PTFE sampler and the surface swabs with oral fluid results (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01 respectively). In addition, both the PTFE sampler (p < 0.01) and surface swabs (p = 0.03) significantly correlated with, and predicted oral fluid results. Bioaerosol sampling using PTFE samplers is an effective hands‐off approach for detecting influenza virus activity among swine. Further study is required for the implementation of this approach for surveillance and risk assessment of circulating influenza viruses of swine origin. In addition, mobile data collection stands to be an invaluable tool in the field by allowing secure, real‐time reporting of sample collection and results.

Environmental bioaerosol surveillance as an early warning system for pathogen detection in North Carolina swine farms: A pilot study

“…Pig oral fluid sampling is an effective and efficient approach to identify pathogens among pigs (Ramirez et al, 2012). While we did not include pig oral secretion sampling in this study, other studies assessing the ecology of influenza A virus in swine farms have shown agreement in molecular detections between pig oral fluid samples and bioaerosol samples (Anderson et al, 2018;Prost et al, 2019).…”

Molecular detection of myxoma virus in the environment of vaccinated rabbitries

“…A or Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (PCV2) in swine (López-Lorenzo et al, 2019;Neira et al, 2016;Prost et al, 2019). Likewise, the airborne detection of pathogens has been performed on viruses such as PCV2 (Verreault et al, 2010) or Avian Influenza A (Blachere et al, 2018).…”

“…Studies on the environmental detection of pathogens have been carried out on viruses which affect other animal species, like Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV) (Prieto et al., 2014, 2017), Influenza A or Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (PCV2) in swine (López‐Lorenzo et al., 2019; Neira et al., 2016; Prost et al., 2019). Likewise, the airborne detection of pathogens has been performed on viruses such as PCV2 (Verreault et al., 2010) or Avian Influenza A (Blachere et al., 2018).…”

Guidelines for oral fluid-based surveillance of viral pathogens in swine

“…That is, as a result of pigs' normal exploratory behavior, i.e., smelling, tasting, biting, and rooting, environmental diagnostic targets are collected in the buccal cavity [28] -some of which are subsequently passed onto the rope and into the oral fluid specimen. This is not a negative attribute of the specimen; to the contrary, the presence of such material broadens the diagnostic utility of the oral fluid sample [29,30].…”