Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Development of a real time polymerase chain reaction assay for equine encephalosis virus.
- Journal:
- Journal of virological methods
- Year:
- 2014
- Authors:
- Rathogwa, N M et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
Equine encephalosis virus (EEV) causes a disease in horses that can look a lot like a milder version of African horse sickness (AHS), which can make it tricky to tell them apart. Researchers have developed a faster test to identify EEV, which is important because traditional methods can take a long time. This new test can quickly detect EEV in blood samples without confusing it with AHS or other similar viruses. The test is very effective, with a detection rate of 81%, and it can find even small amounts of the virus in the blood. Overall, this new testing method works well and should help veterinarians diagnose EEV more quickly.
Abstract
Equine encephalosis virus (EEV) is the cause of equine encephalosis. The disease is similar to mild forms of African horse sickness (AHS) and the two diseases are easily confused. Laboratory identification and serotyping of EEV is based on viral isolation in BHK-21 cells and a viral plaque inhibition neutralisation test. These procedures are time-consuming and therefore a more rapid diagnostic assay for EEV that can distinguish EEV from African horse sickness virus (AHSV) infections was developed. The S7 (VP7) gene from 38 EEV isolates representing all seven serotypes was amplified and sequenced. A conserved region at the 5' end of the gene was identified and used to design group-specific EEV primers and a TaqMan(®) MGB™ hydrolysis probe. The efficiency of the EEV real-time RT-PCR assay was 81%. The assay was specific, as it did not detect any of the nine serotypes of AHSV, nor 24 serotypes of bluetongue virus (BTV) and sensitive, with a 95% limit of detection of 10(2.9) TCID50/ml blood (95% confidence interval: 10(2.7) to 10(3.3)). The real-time format was selected because of its convenience, sensitivity and ability to produce results rapidly.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24161811/