Evaluating the impact of organic matter and sample processing technique on RNA detection using environmental samples

This study evaluated sample processing methods and the presence of organic matter on detection of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) from environmental samples using real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Steel coupons were inoculated with PEDV and different types of organic material contamination. Surface samples were collected and processed in one of four ways: none, centrifugation, syringe filtration, or combination of centrifugation and syringe filtration, then submitted for PEDV qRT-PCR. There was a surface inoculation type by processing method interaction (P < .001) that impacted the sample cycle threshold value. Centrifugation resulted in the most consistent detection of PEDV RNA.