New rapid test to help stop the spread of the African swine fever virus
PenCheck, a new, highly anticipated, rapid test for African swine fever, demonstrates impressive results in a clinical study.
24 February 2020
3 minute read
By: Silver Lake Research Corporation makes and manufactures PenCheckTM, the only low-cost rapid African swine fever test on the market with accuracy rates greater than 95 percent. PenCheckTM can be easily administered pen-side with results in just 20 minutes, to help prevent the spread of the deadly virus. African swine fever has killed tens of millions of pigs across Asia and Europe, with an enormous and costly impact on the global meat market.
Once the virus started to spread, researchers, scientists, and developers at Silver Lake Research Corporation immediately went to work to develop an easy-to-use test.
“It is remarkable to put together a rapid test like PenCheckTM so quickly; in fact, it is almost unheard of,” says Erik Serrao, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Silver Lake Research Corporation. “PenCheckTM can help save millions of pigs around the world. We wanted to make it as easy as possible to test and remove any infected animals to prevent further damage.”
Dr Juergen Richt, DVM, PhD at Kansas State University, conducted an independent clinical validation study to determine the accuracy of PenCheckTM. The sensitivity of PenCheckTM was 95.5 percent, with a specificity of 99.3 percent. In the sensitivity tests, PenCheckTM correctly identified 21 out of 22 pigs with moderate to severe symptoms of African swine fever. In the specificity tests, PenCheckTM was found to be very dependable. In 144 pigs with no prior symptoms, PenCheckTM correctly determined 143 pigs did not carry the virus.
The study concluded:
• In symptomatic animals, a positive test result is a highly reliable indicator of African swine fever.
• In animals with moderate to severe symptoms, PenCheckTM can be used to detect African swine fever with high sensitivity.
• PenCheckTM may be used as the foundation for an effective and inexpensive monitoring programme for swine populations, focused on early detection of African swine fever exposure in symptomatic animals.
A manuscript with the entire details of the clinical study is currently in preparation.
Needing just a drop of blood from the pig or boar along with a few drops of water, PenCheckTM was designed with a simple protocol, such that screening may be accomplished confidently in any environment.
For more information on PenCheckTM, visit https://www.penchecktest.com/ or email [email protected].
As reported by PenCheckTM.
