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Smiths Detection to launch a portable diagnostic system for foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu
October 15, 2007Smiths Detection, part of the global technology business Smiths Group, today announces it is to launch a portable detection system that will enable veterinarians to carry out on-site diagnosis of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth and avian flu. This new technology means vets will be able to diagnose diseases in livestock and birds in the field in less than 90 minutes rather than having to send samples for laboratory analysis.
The initial focus of the technology will be on identifying foot-and-mouth disease and avian flu with a wide range of tests for other diseases to be made available after the initial systems are deployed. Smiths Detection has been working with the global reference centre for foot-and-mouth disease - the Institute for Animal Health (IAH) - to develop and validate the system.
The new portable device is specifically designed to be used by vets wherever livestock are kept and comprises a simple-to-use sample preparation cartridge and a rugged portable instrument. The technology employed is a novel form of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), a well established technique for the detection and analysis of infectious diseases.
Smiths Detection has been supplying field-based PCR systems for bioterrorism applications for many years. The new generation of instruments, building on this experience, is designed to run in harsh environments and, unlike typical laboratory PCR machines, requires no setting up by the operator between each test.
A wide variety of veterinary sample types can be analysed by the instrument and up to five independent tests can be run simultaneously. An analysis of the infection is available in under 90 minutes, enabling the vet to take swift action. The instrument can be decontaminated at the location, a critical feature in the control of disease outbreaks.
For the last three years, Smiths Detection has worked closely with the laboratory of Professor Larry Wangh at Brandeis University, near Boston, Massachusetts, that invented a novel DNA amplification and analysis technique called Linear After The Exponential PCR (LATE PCR). Smiths Detection holds an exclusive license to this technology. LATE PCR provides significant improvements over traditional PCR techniques, in particular in its ability to identify multiple types of bacteria or virus in a single test and to determine accurately the strain of an individual infection. This latter characteristic is critical in Avian Influenza where discrimination between the pathogenic strain of H5N1 and more common forms of the disease, is vital.
Dr. Donald King, Group Leader of Molecular Characterisation and Diagnostics at the UK Institute for Animal Health (IAH), said: "Smiths Detection is actively collaborating with the Institute for Animal Health's global reference laboratory for foot-and-mouth disease to develop an assay to allow the rapid detection of FMD-infected animals in the field. This work has involved the development of a suitable assay format which will be validated when Smith's new platform technology is available in the near future. The results of this early pilot work have been presented at international conferences."
Smiths Detection is working to develop additional assays for the same instrument, including one to detect the Blue Tongue virus.
Stephen Phipson, Group Managing Director of Smiths Detection, said: "Our links with some of the world's leading academic institutions enhance Smiths Detection's technologies and take us into new markets. This breakthrough with Brandeis University moves our biological detection and identification activities into an important commercial market. We are putting laboratory science into the hands of vets. Together we will play a vital role in the future detection and management of animal disease outbreaks."
Commenting on the relationship with Smiths Detection, Irene Abrams, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Brandeis University, said: "Not only has Smiths Detection invested in Larry Wangh's lab but the company is continuing to develop its relationship with Brandeis by investing in life sciences here. When an industry leader like Smiths Detection is committed to an ongoing relationship with Brandeis, it shows tremendous confidence in our science."
The new system will be launched to vets at the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians conference in Australia in November 2007 and is expected to be in production in mid 2008.
Brandeis University
Smiths Detection has been supplying field-based PCR systems for bioterrorism applications for many years. The new generation of instruments, building on this experience, is designed to run in harsh environments and, unlike typical laboratory PCR machines, requires no setting up by the operator between each test.
A wide variety of veterinary sample types can be analysed by the instrument and up to five independent tests can be run simultaneously. An analysis of the infection is available in under 90 minutes, enabling the vet to take swift action. The instrument can be decontaminated at the location, a critical feature in the control of disease outbreaks.
For the last three years, Smiths Detection has worked closely with the laboratory of Professor Larry Wangh at Brandeis University, near Boston, Massachusetts, that invented a novel DNA amplification and analysis technique called Linear After The Exponential PCR (LATE PCR). Smiths Detection holds an exclusive license to this technology. LATE PCR provides significant improvements over traditional PCR techniques, in particular in its ability to identify multiple types of bacteria or virus in a single test and to determine accurately the strain of an individual infection. This latter characteristic is critical in Avian Influenza where discrimination between the pathogenic strain of H5N1 and more common forms of the disease, is vital.
Dr. Donald King, Group Leader of Molecular Characterisation and Diagnostics at the UK Institute for Animal Health (IAH), said: "Smiths Detection is actively collaborating with the Institute for Animal Health's global reference laboratory for foot-and-mouth disease to develop an assay to allow the rapid detection of FMD-infected animals in the field. This work has involved the development of a suitable assay format which will be validated when Smith's new platform technology is available in the near future. The results of this early pilot work have been presented at international conferences."
Smiths Detection is working to develop additional assays for the same instrument, including one to detect the Blue Tongue virus.
Stephen Phipson, Group Managing Director of Smiths Detection, said: "Our links with some of the world's leading academic institutions enhance Smiths Detection's technologies and take us into new markets. This breakthrough with Brandeis University moves our biological detection and identification activities into an important commercial market. We are putting laboratory science into the hands of vets. Together we will play a vital role in the future detection and management of animal disease outbreaks."
Commenting on the relationship with Smiths Detection, Irene Abrams, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Brandeis University, said: "Not only has Smiths Detection invested in Larry Wangh's lab but the company is continuing to develop its relationship with Brandeis by investing in life sciences here. When an industry leader like Smiths Detection is committed to an ongoing relationship with Brandeis, it shows tremendous confidence in our science."
The new system will be launched to vets at the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians conference in Australia in November 2007 and is expected to be in production in mid 2008.
Brandeis University
Foot-and-mouth Disease Current Events and Foot-and-mouth Disease News RSSChips could speed up detection of livestock viruses
Some of the worst threats to farm workers and farm animals such as bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease and other emerging viruses could soon be quickly identified by using a simple screening chip developed by scientists from the Institute for Animal Health, scientists will hear today (Monday 31 March 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Foot-and-mouth disease could cost Kansas nearly a billion dollars
As much as $945 million. That's what agricultural economists at Kansas State University say could be the impact on Kansas' economy were there a large-scale foot-and-mouth outbreak in a region thick with livestock operations.
Microbiology experts meet Scottish Parliamentarians
Microbiology experts will be gathering today, 04 March 2004, at the Hub in Edinburgh to tell MSPs about the many varied ways in which microbes are involved in the everyday issues requiring Government decisions. Health, environment and the economy occupy much of the work of the Scottish Parliament. These topics are often dominated by microbiology. From the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases to the production of beer, cheese and whisky or cleaning up pollution, microbes have an important part to play. "We need microbiologists", explains Hugh Pennington, President of the Society for General Microbiology. "It used to be said that antibiotics would make microbiologists re
FMD future: vaccines or funeral pyres?
Millions of animals could be needlessly slaughtered and billions of dollars lost from economies, unless the world backs an international science team to develop new tools to fight foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). A group of world-leading researchers aims to develop a more effective FMD vaccine and better diagnostic tests that would enable livestock disease control agencies to isolate and eventually eliminate the disease. The team of scientists from the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, and Australia, are leading a call for international support for a bold five-year research project. "Foot-and-mouth disease is a global problem and it requires a global solution," says project leader
IAH appoints new Head of Epidemiology
The Institute for Animal Health is pleased to announce that Dr Matthew Baylis has been appointed as Head of the Division of Epidemiology. Dr Baylis will take charge of a re-structured division responsible for experimental epidemiology and mathematical modelling of a number of infectious diseases across the Institute's three laboratories at Compton, Edinburgh and Pirbright. Dr Baylis joined the Institute in 1993 as a postdoctoral researcher, and became a research group leader in 2000. During this time he has made a significant impact in the development of mathematical models to predict the spread of BSE, scrapie, bluetongue, and African horse sickness. IAH Director Professor Paul-Pierre Pasto
Rapid response needed to tackle outbreaks of livestock diseases
The UK should seek to remain free of foot-and-mouth disease without using routine vaccination, the Royal Society recommends in a report published today (16 July 2002). However, the UK Government must make a major effort with other European Union Member States to ensure that, by the end of next year, emergency vaccination can be used as a primary means of preventing any future outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease from becoming an epidemic. The report was prepared by a committee appointed by the Royal Society, which was commissioned by the Government last year to carry out an independent inquiry into scientific aspects of the transmission, prevention and control of outbreaks of infectious diseas
Foot-and-Mouth epidemic modelled in Cambridge
Britain's foot-and-mouth epidemic would have been over much sooner if the slaughter and cull policy currently in operation had been implemented from the beginning, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. Dr Matt Keeling, Dr Bryan Grenfell and colleagues in the Department of Zoology, along with researchers in the University of Edinburgh and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), have constructed a detailed model of the epidemic. They used the location of every farm in Britain, as well as the number and type of livestock, to estimate the regional risk of transmission of foot-and-mouth disease . Their results have shown that the current policy of local
The role of the Institute for Animal Health in the current outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the UK
The Institute for Animal Health (IAH) is an international centre for research into the major infectious diseases of farm animals. It is sponsored and funded by the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and undertakes research in support of the policies of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to control animal disease. The IAH's Pirbright Laboratory was first alerted to a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) on Monday 19th February and subsequently confirmed this diagnosis. Since then the IAH has been actively working with MAFF in its investigation of the source and extent of the FMD outbreak. The role of the IAH in the current outbreak of FM
Strategic Plan maintains UK at Centre of Animal Health Research
The rationale behind the publication of the Strategic Plan is the threat posed by diseases of farm animals to the well-being of every nation in terms of food, animal welfare and public health. The plan highlights the vital need to maintain UK expertise in the infectious diseases of farm animals, given that disease is dynamic and unpredictable, with a new infectious pathogen of livestock emerging on average, every two years or so.
More Foot-and-mouth Disease Current Events and Foot-and-mouth Disease News Articles
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Foot in Mouth Disease by Gob |
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Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology) by B.W.J. Mahy (Editor) The seven chapters in this volume provide an account of the present knowledge and understanding of FMD pathogenesis and global epidemiology, the detailed structure of the virus itself and the properties of its RNA genome, the immune response of the host and the state of the art in vaccine production, and the nature of FMD virus evolution. It is clear that in all these areas there is still much more to learn about this fascinating virus. Because of its highly contagious nature research work on FMD is restricted to a small number of laboratories worldwide that have adequate containment facilities. Despite this restriction, the recent progress in research on FMD which is described in this volume has provided a remarkable level of understanding of this unique virus. |
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ABC News Nightline Foot and Mouth Disease During Britain's foot and mouth epidemic in 2001, they ended up slaughtering close to four million farm animals. Foot and mouth is the most contagious disease among animals or humans. So the British government didn't feel that it had any options. But once the epidemic seemed in hand, we didn't expend much more effort on the story. British farmers are still suffering a lot, even where nothing new is happening on the foot and mouth front, but some fresh cases have also been reported and the fear is that new outbreaks will only increase as colder weather sets in. And if it was bad in the United Kingdom, it would be that much worse here in North America. |
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