Oral Fluids
Alternative testing specimens
Diagnostic Solutions
for Oral Fluids
Oral fluids are now widely used for the surveillance of a variety of infectious diseases (Bjustrom-kraft et al., 2018). Oral fluid is a mixture of saliva and “oral mucosal transudate” present in the oral cavity. While saliva is produced by the salivary glands, oral mucosal transudate enters the mouth by crossing the buccal mucosa from the capillaries. Oral fluids contain both pathogens and antibodies that can be detected using appropriated diagnostic tools (Prikett et al., 2008). Oral fluid (individual, pen-based, litter-based or “family oral fluid”) collection is quick, easy, and inexpensive to collect. From the perspective of animal welfare, oral fluid sampling also offers a more ‘animal friendly’, noninvasive method to collect diagnostic specimens.
