title: Detection and differentiation of wild-type and vaccine mutant varicella-zoster viruses using an Invader Plus method.
abstract: We report the use of a prototype Invader Plus method (Third Wave Technologies, Inc., Madison, WI) for the qualitative detection of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and differentiation of wild-type and Oka vaccine VZV. The analytical sensitivity of the VZV Invader Plus reagents is at 10 copies per reaction. A total of 174 skin and mucous swab specimens were used to validate the assay's performance. The sensitivity and specificity were 98.3% and 98.1%, respectively, in comparison to a PCR-EIA assay. A perfect 100% agreement was obtained when VZV wild-type and vaccine differentiation was performed on 54 VZV-positive swab specimens against an allele-specific FRET real-time assay. The Invader Plus method provides another reliable tool for qualitative detection of VZV and differentiation of wild-type and vaccine virus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232, USA. yiwei.tang@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Yi-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Hatim T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Allawi
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DeLeon-Carnes
authors.forename: Haijing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: D  Scott
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmid
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D002644:Chickenpox / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012867:Skin / Q000821:virology; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D019433:Chickenpox Vaccine; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated