A high-throughput, polymerase-targeted RT-PCR for broad detection of mammalian filoviruses

Hemorrhagic fever caused by filoviruses is a highly lethal and dangerous infectious disease that can be spread from person to person. Outbreaks of filoviruses have occurred in Africa, with occasional secondary cases reported in several countries. To predict cross-species transmission of filoviruses, they established an RT-PCR assay that can detect a wide range of mammalian filoviruses with high sensitivity. This assay targets the L-protein region of the virus and can identify more than 99% of the currently identified mammalian filovirus sequences. In fact, they detected 10 different filoviruses with analytical sensitivity as high as 178-3,354 copies/ml. Furthermore, it is possible to detect other virus families from the same sample by performing RT-PCR in two steps. The results may be useful for predicting and combating outbreaks of filoviruses.
(SM)