Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD) PCR testing is available at the AHDC for the testing of blood and milk samples for the presence of the BVD virus. Pooled BVD PCR testing is also available, for which the laboratory creates pools from individual blood samples and tests the pool, rather than testing each sample individually. In the event of a cattle positive pool on animals at least 61 days of age, BVDACE testing will be done on individual samples to identify the PI animal(s) at an additional cost of $6.00 per sample. For positive alpaca pools or cattle pools of animals under 61 days of age, determination of the positive animal(s) is included in the test fee. Pooled testing should only be used to test otherwise apparently healthy animals for the detection of Persistently Infected (PI) animals.

Clinical suspects should be tested individually. For pooled testing, individual samples must be submitted separately and identified. Composite samples will be rejected. Ideally, on the submission form we would like samples to be grouped sequentially by age and specimen type. Be sure to request "Pooled BVD PCR" on the submission form. Samples from different owners will not be pooled.

Effective October 1, 2008, POOLED BVD PCR testing will be performed, if appropriate, on multiple blood samples submitted for detection of BVDV Persistently Infected (PI) animals unless the INDIVIDUAL BVD PCR test is indicated.

Pooled BVD PCR testing for CATTLE

• For cattle under 61 days of age, plasma or serum will not be tested – only EDTA whole blood will be accepted.
• Ship EDTA whole blood samples overnight – do not freeze.
• Up to 10 samples of EDTA whole blood will be pooled but only if all animals are under 61 days of age. Another option for BVDV PI testing for cattle under 61 days of age is an ear notch sample for an individual ACE test.
• For cattle 61 days of age and older, acceptable samples are EDTA whole blood, EDTA plasma, and serum/red top tubes. Up to 10 samples will be pooled but only if all animals are 61 days of age or older. It is possible to pool plasma samples with serum samples in special situations but please group sample types together on the submission form.

Pooled BVD PCR testing for ALPACAS

• Up to 5 samples from animals 61 days of age or older will be pooled.  
• Only 2 samples from animals under 61 days of age will be pooled.  
• Samples from animals in these two different age groups will not be pooled together.  
• For crias under 61 days of age, plasma and serum will not be tested – only EDTA whole blood will be accepted.  
• Ship EDTA whole blood samples overnight – do not freeze.
• Please note that the AHDC will not pool ear notch samples or samples for Antigen Capture ELISA (ACE) tests.

Service Agreement Statement for PCR Testing

This service is performed pursuant to an agreement with Roche Molecular Systems.