Diagnosis of mixed infections with swine viruses using an integrated microfluidic platform

Early diagnosis and intervention of livestock epidemics is extremely important because disastrous outbreaks of an infectious disease can not only hit livestock industry but also cause a series of negative economic and social consequences. In order to fulfill the requirement of point-of-care testing, a reliable, field-portable, time-efficient and cost-effective microfluidic platform including a microfluidic chip and a semi-automated immunoassay system (SAIS) is developed. Multiple samples can be tested simultaneously in a single chip for multiple-biomarker testing. The entire assay, including reagent injection, well washing, waste collection and colorimetric detection, can be realized in the user-friendly system. The assay of three contagious diseases, PRRSV, CSFV and PCV2, is conducted in the microfluidic platform. The consistency of the reaction for different samples can be guaranteed owing to the chip design for flow balance. The assay only takes 12 min and 4 mu L of sample is required. The assay achieves high accuracy ( > 93.8 %), high sensitivity ( > 88.8 %) and high specificity ( > 96.6 %). The platform has the potential to be applied for on-site rapid screening livestock diseases.