Researchers Create Rapid Test for Deadly Infections in Livestock, Starting with Pigs

Researchers at McMaster University have developed a new form of rapid test to detect infections in farm animals, responding to the rising threat of dangerous outbreaks.

The prototype has been proven effective in detecting a devastating diarrheal infection in pigs first identified in Canada in 2014, and can be adapted to test for other pathogens, and in other animals.

The test, created by biochemist Yingfu Li and engineer Leyla Soleymani and their colleagues, uses a small sample of saliva to detect the chemical markers of infection.

It employs technology similar to a form of test the same research team recently created to detect COVID and other infections in humans. The human test is now moving toward the marketplace with public research funding and corporate support.

The animal test, once it becomes widely available, is expected to be a valuable tool for identifying and isolating outbreaks in farm settings, and for limiting the possibility of animal-to-human transmission of infections, which is believed to be the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disease outbreaks often require entire herds to be euthanized, with sometimes severe economic and environmental consequences. Canada is a leading producer of pork, with 14 million hogs on 7,600 farms.

"There is a really a clear need for this technology," Li said. "There are many reasons why everyone—even people who don't eat pork—should care about animal-infection surveillance."