Assessing breeding herd stability: molecular diagnostics

摘要

Defining and measuring breeding herd stability in PRRS positive herds has been a difficult task. Previous attempts to establish a standardized approach to classifying PRRS virus infected breeding herds using serology, production data and clinical observations have been described. However, since the true definition of sow herd stability depends on whether PRRS virus transmission exists between sow and suckling piglet, these parameters have limited value. A breakthrough in determining stability at the pig level became available with the development of automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, particularly the TaqMan~(TM) PCR test, available through the University of Minnesota Diagnostic Laboratory.