Which wipes are better to detect flu: udder skin or nasal wipes?

Reprinted as posted on Swine in Minnesota blog. Adapted from December 14, 2020 Bob Morrison’s Swine Health Monitoring Project Friday rubric.

Dr. Albert Canturri from Torremorell’s lab recently shared results from a study looking at udder skin wipes and piglet nasal wipes to detect swine influenza.

Key Points

• Various wipe types can be used to sample influenza A virus (IAV) from the udder skin of lactating sows. Although differences between wipe types were not seen, wipes that were wet provided a better detection rate than dry wipes.
• Furthermore, wiping the nose of 5 piglets within a litter resulted in higher litter detection rates than sampling the udder directly. This indicates that within litter prevalence is a driver for IAV detection using wipes.
• Future steps are needed to assess differences in virus isolation among sampling procedures.

Continue reading about udder skin wipes and piglet nasal wipes to detect swine influenza.