17 February 2023

2 minute read

By: Global Ag Media

North America

Tetracore, Inc. announced recently its partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to provide a stock of PCR kits for both African Swine Fever (ASF) and Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD). These kits were purchased for use in the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank to ensure that the US is prepared for a possible outbreak of a high-consequence Foreign Animal Disease (FAD). As the only USDA licensed PCR kits for these diseases, Tetracore's VetAlert ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits will be critical in minimizing the potentially devastating impacts of a FAD outbreak.

The presence of ASF in the Dominican Republic represents a looming threat to the welfare of food production in the United States. Outbreaks of FMD and ASF can result in devastating economic consequences for the livestock industry. This threat necessitates readily available, accurate, and validated diagnostics. An immediate surge of incoming samples to animal health testing laboratories would quickly exhaust available countermeasures. To address the need for laboratory surge capacity in an outbreak scenario, the USDA has asked Tetracore to stock their USDA-licensed test kits for FMD and ASF.

The VetAlert ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits have been updated using contemporary viral sequences, to ensure the test remains fit for purpose. These tests have been validated in studies with multiple reference laboratories. The VetAlert ASF and FMD Diagnostic Test kits were developed and commercialized by Tetracore scientists and are sold exclusively by Tetracore.