Field evaluation of CIEP and PCR detection/removal control methods of Aleutian mink disease (AD) in Canada

Abstract

Detection/removal control method of Aleutian disease by CIEP detection of ADV-antibody and farm or barn depopulation/repopulation, have been the recommended approaches of AD control since mid 1970s. The detection/removal was, at least under common N. American husbandry conditions, unsuccessful in controlling AD in a sustainable manner. Recently, attention was turned towards virus detection by PCR, and its use for AD eradication by removal of positive individual animals. In view of the common failures of CIEP to facilitate AD eradication, we were skeptical about premature acceptance of PCR-detection/removal, as the recommended control method. The frequent failures of CIEP test/removal were often blamed on breaches of bio-security. However, we believed that this method has been based on fundamentally wrong premise that the virus is primarily harbored by the infected animals. In reality, this sturdy parvovirus is harbored primarily in the contaminated environment through feces, saliva, urine, whelping, as well as through blood during bleeding for testing. While the use of both CIEP and PCR for monitoring of farms free of the virus remains certainly a valid approach, the data obtained in this study indicate that detection/removal by neither of the methods could facilitate real and lasting freedom from the virus, under the conditions of the study.