Molecular technology will play a vital role in safeguarding the health and productivity of food animals in the future. That was the message from expert speakers at a recent meeting in Brussels entitled Advances in Diagnostics

“Technology is taking over,” said Dr Willie Loeffen, President of the European Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (EAVLD). “Laboratory diagnosis used to be 99% labour and 1% technology, nowadays the emphasis is the other way around. Technology is now an integral and indispensable part of veterinary laboratories.”

Dr Loeffen used the investigation of PRRSV infection in pigs and the more recent appearance of Schmallenberg virus in Europe to highlight how modern molecular techniques could help to characterise new disease threats rapidly.

“It took four years of laborious work for us to characterise the cause of PRRS, but thanks to sequencing technology Schmallenberg virus took just a few months.

“Technological developments mean that diagnosticians now do things that they could only dream about 10 or 20 years ago.”

As well as providing a means of identifying new disease threats quickly, the meeting highlighted the increasing role of diagnostic tools as an integral part of maintaining animal health.

“Diagnostics are no longer just a way of finding out what an animal died of – they have a multitude of uses on farm,” said Dr Kirk Adams, Director of Product Management at Life Technologies, the meeting sponsor.

“They mean that we can take a more holistic and pro-active approach to animal health; in contrast to the reactive, disease-driven approach of the past.

“As just one example, better diagnostics allow a more targeted approach to treatment, and the potential to reduce the use of broad-spectrum drugs - such as certain antibiotics - and thus comply with the wishes of consumers and legislators.”

Dr Adams said that modern diagnostic tools also provided the means to improve vaccination programmes and biosecurity, and were essential for disease eradication schemes and for improving herd health status, for example by identifying persistently infected, asymptomatic animals. 

They also enable veterinarians to monitor herd health and build up an accurate and dynamic picture of health status and risk profile – and screen for emerging disease threats.

“Veterinarians now have access to a wider range of better diagnostics than ever before. Tests are now faster, more accurate and more precise than ever before,” Dr Adams added. 

“The next twenty years could see the biggest change in the way we manage production animals in over a hundred years.”

The meeting was also addressed by Dr Kees van Maanen, from the Netherlands Animal health Service (GD), who is an expert in modern diagnostic technology and its application on both local and national levels. He called for greater international co-operation to protect European animals against threats from increasing global interaction.

“Pathogens and insects do not respect borders: trusting each other’s results requires further harmonization and transparency for diagnostic procedures between laboratories and countries,” said Dr van Maanen.

“Rapid and accurate diagnosis contributes to disease management,” he said, “but does not stop epidemics. However, it has contributed significantly to gaining insight into the epidemiology of emerging diseases and formulating appropriate measures.

“The development of modern diagnostics has given us the potential to manage animal health and control infectious diseases in production animals far more effectively in the past - both on a local level and a national or regional level. Recent experience with unexpected disease outbreaks has shown that we can now characterise and track pathogens far more quickly and accurately than ever before.

“However, we need to make sure that we keep veterinarians and farmers informed about these developments, so they know how to apply them in practice in order to make the most of them.

“Diagnostics will continue to become a more integral part of animal health management in the next decade, we just need to make sure we can apply that knowledge in the best possible way,” concluded Dr Van Maanen.

*Health professionals means members of the healthcare professions or health trade, facilities that serve the health of humans or animals, or any other persons, unless they trade legally with medicinal products, medical devices, procedures, treatments, items or other means to or use them legally in the exercise of their profession.

NB: In some markets products for diagnosis of veterinary diseases need registration prior to marketing of the products

About Life Technologies

Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) is a global biotechnology company dedicated to improving the human condition. Our systems, consumables and services enable researchers to accelerate scientific and medical advancements that make life even better. Life Technologies customers do their work across the biological spectrum, working to advance the fields of discovery and translational research, molecular medicine, stem cell-based therapies, food safety and animal health, and 21st century forensics. The company manufactures both molecular diagnostic and research use only products. Life Technologies' industry-leading brands are found in nearly every life sciences lab in the world and include innovative instrument systems under the Applied Biosystems and Ion Torrent names, as well as, the broadest range of reagents with its Invitrogen, GIBCO, Ambion, Molecular Probes and TaqMan® products.  Life Technologies had sales of $3.7 billion in 2011, employs approximately 10,400 people, has a presence in approximately 160 countries, and possesses one of the largest intellectual property estates in the life sciences industry, with approximately 4,000 patents and exclusive licenses.

For more information on how we are making a difference, please visit www.lifetechnologies.com

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