Research proposals investigating tongue tips as a novel diagnostic sample type are now being accepted as part of a recently released SHIC RFP. Diagnostic investigation of tongue tips from stillborn pigs and neonatal mortalities may be used to gain information about porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, or other pathogens, circulating during gestation and being vertically transmitted from the gestating sow to her litter.
Tongue tips might also be used to monitor viral pathogen horizontal transmission in a variety of ages of pigs. Research into the use of tongue tip monitoring will help provide producers and their veterinarians with critical information that they may need to effectively respond to an emerging disease outbreak.
SHIC’s research priority is to understand the potential breadth of tongue tips as a sample type for monitoring emerging diseases. More information is needed about diagnostic test sensitivity or specificity using tongue tip tissues compared to other sample types such as neonate processing fluids; diagnostic lab processing procedures to support reliable, credible test results; comparing different pathogens’ tongue tip test results using whole genome sequencing; and confirming tongue tip test results using virus isolation.
Following, if tongue tip monitoring can be used to investigate vertical and/or horizontal disease transmission, more information is needed about how to apply tongue tip monitoring to support recovery from emerging diseases. Therefore, using tongue tips to achieve herd PRRS stability or elimination as a model for an emerging disease response needs to be investigated.
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