PenCheck™, a highly anticipated, new rapid test for African swine fever, demonstrates impressive results in a clinical study. Silver Lake Research Corporation makes and manufactures PenCheck, the only low-cost rapid African swine fever test on the market with accuracy rates greater than 95%. PenCheckTM can be easily administered pen-side with results in just 20 minutes, to help prevent the spread of the deadly virus. African swine fever has killed millions of pigs across Asia and Europe, with an enormous and costly impact on the global meat market.
Once the virus started to spread, researchers, scientists, and developers at Silver Lake Research Corporation immediately went to work to develop an easy-to-use test.
“It is remarkable to put together a rapid test like PenCheck so quickly; in fact, it is almost unheard of,” says Erik Serrao, vice president of sales and business development at Silver Lake Research Corp. “PenCheck can help save millions of pigs around the world. We wanted to make it as easy as possible to test and remove any infected animals to prevent further damage
Dr. Juergen Richt, DVM, PhD at Kansas State University, conducted an independent clinical validation study to determine the accuracy of PenCheck. The sensitivity of PenCheck was 95.5%, with a specificity of 99.3%. In the sensitivity tests, PenCheckTM correctly identified 21 out of 22 pigs with moderate to severe symptoms of African swine fever. In the specificity tests, PenCheckTM was found to be very dependable. In 144 pigs with no prior symptoms, PenCheckTM correctly determined 143 pigs did not carry the virus.
The study concluded:
- In symptomatic animals, a positive test result is a highly reliable indicator of African swine fever.
- In animals with moderate to severe symptoms, PenCheck can be used to detect African swine fever with high sensitivity.
- PenCheck may be used as the foundation for an effective and inexpensive monitoring program for swine populations, focused on early detection of African swine fever exposure in symptomatic animals.
A manuscript with the entire details of the clinical study is currently in preparation.
Using just a drop of blood from the pig or boar along with a few drops of water, PenCheck was designed with a simple protocol, such that screening may be accomplished confidently in any environment.
PenCheck kits are now available at $250; each kit contains 50 tests ($5 per test strip). For more information on PenCheck, visit penchecktest.com or email [email protected].
