The Joint FAO/IAEA Programme consultant’s meeting on “Early Warning Devices and Tools to diagnose known and unknown emerging diseases” held in Vienna, Austria from the 13th to 16th October 2008
Purpose:
The purpose of the meeting was to determine current and future technologies useful for early warning of the occurrence of pathogens and toxic agents affecting animal's health, potentially endangering public health and food security.
Overall conclusion:
Global effort is needed to ensure the early detection and rapid response to outbreaks of priority livestock diseases. This will include cooperative research to develop affordable and effective solutions, educational resources, communication and validated diagnostic tools for the farmer, as well as through the logical hierarchy of veterinary services (local, central, national, regional, reference laboratories) and to the appropriate veterinary authority (action agency).
Current and future devices:
The wide range of diagnostic tools is clearly dependent on the intended purpose, devices available and the target to de identified (pathogen, toxin or other biological marker(s)). Current technologies range from pen-side or dipstick technologies to multiple biomarker detection systems like microarrays. The selection of diagnostic tools should be based on the most effective, appropriate, affordable, and maintainable platforms available for the desired purpose. The tools should reflect the diagnostic urgency to promote timely and informed decision making.
The use of multiple platforms (in sequence or in parallel) should increase confidence in the diagnostic results, aide in risk-assessment, and to ensure that appropriate response is taken. Pen-side or dipstick technologies exist and are beneficial, but development and validation of new tests require biological reagent development and commercial partnership for sustainable production and quality assurance. The real-time PCR is currently the genetic amplification device of choice; however, it is only one of several methods available and not appropriate in all environments or situations. Other amplification technologies should be evaluated because the cost of current amplification technologies hinders the sustainability of this technology. Biosensors, multi-bead flow-through, and other emerging technologies are coming available and efforts should be made to encourage the development of this technology for agricultural purposes. Remote sensing devices that would allow the early forecasting or detection of disease should be investigated. This would include satellite monitoring of environmental factors associated with potential disease outbreak conditions, information search tools to monitor open source internet-based material, and the capability to track and monitor the health of an individual or sentinel or animals from a remote location. Integration of currently available databases that can filter collected data sets in an electronic matter (not requiring human resource capital) is needed. It is recognized that understanding baseline data and its relevant analysis for disease forecasting is required. An important aspect to remember is that sample treatment (collection procedure, preparation, quality, etc) prior to being submitted for analysis is critical.