title: Enhanced laboratory diagnosis of foot and mouth disease by real-time polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: The performance of an automated real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was compared to virus isolation (VI) in cell culture and antigen detection enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the laboratory diagnosis of foot and mouth disease (FMD). The World Reference Laboratory for FMD in Woking, the United Kingdom, examined a collection of 334 epithelia received from eighteen countries between August 2002 and January 2004. The results showed that all VI positive (n = 195) and VI and ELISA positive samples combined (n = 204) were also positive by RT-PCR. Depending on the cut-off used, FMD virus genome was detected in a minimum of an additional 60 samples (18% of all samples tested). Furthermore, the RT-PCR generated results in less than one day from test commencement in contrast to up to 4 days to define some positive and all negative samples by VI. The study demonstrates that real-time RT-PCR provides an extremely sensitive and rapid procedure for improved laboratory diagnosis of FMD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exotic Disease Control, Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey GU24 0NF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Hutchings
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Ferris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000592:standards / Q000662:veterinary*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013997:Time Factors