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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1471184

Oral fluid testing can be used to monitor xenotransplant donor herds for Porcine Cytomegalovirus/Roseolovirus status

Provisionally accepted
Susan K Schommer Susan K Schommer *Melissa S Samuel Melissa S Samuel Kristin Whitworth Kristin Whitworth Addison K Byrne Addison K Byrne Kevin D Wells Kevin D Wells Randall Prather Randall Prather
  • University of Missouri, Columbia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A major concern of xenotransplantation is that donor organs may be a source of pathogens. One pathogen in particular, porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), a porcine roseolovirus (PRV), is thought to result in donor organ failure in an immunosuppressed state. Porcine cytomegalovirus is difficult to detect in organ donor swine because of its ability to establish latency. Establishment of an antemortem testing protocol to monitor and maintain PCMV/PRV negative herd status decreases the risk of inadvertently using an organ harboring the virus. Oral fluid has become a common sample for detecting a number of porcine pathogens. A real-time PCR assay was adapted to include an internal control for inhibition and results from antemortem samples (blood, oral fluid) were compared to postmortem spleen from pigs in a known positive herd. When using both oral fluid and blood to test pigs over 12 months of age 13/20 animals with positive spleens tested real-time PCR positive. Animals younger than 12 months of age were tested individually and in group housing with all pigs positive by oral fluid and/or blood. PCMV/PRV testing of oral fluid in young animals and a combination of blood and oral fluid in older animals can be used to verify that a herd has been kept PCMV/PRV free, as in the high biosecurity facility of the National Swine Resource and Research Center.

    Keywords: Oral fluid1, Porcine cytomegalovirus/roseolovirus2, real-time PCR3, virus safety4, xenotransplant5

    Received: 26 Jul 2024; Accepted: 26 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Schommer, Samuel, Whitworth, Byrne, Wells and Prather. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Susan K Schommer, University of Missouri, Columbia, United States

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