title: International external quality assessment of molecular detection of Rift Valley fever virus.
abstract: Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis that primarily affects animals resulting in considerable economic losses due to death and abortions among infected livestock. RVF also affects humans with clinical symptoms ranging from an influenza-like illness to a hemorrhagic fever. Over the past years, RVF virus (RVFV) has caused severe outbreaks in livestock and humans throughout Africa and regions of the world previously regarded as free of the virus. This situation prompts the need to evaluate the diagnostic capacity and performance of laboratories worldwide. Diagnostic methods for RVFV detection include virus isolation, antigen and antibody detection methods, and nucleic acid amplification techniques. Molecular methods such as reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and other newly developed techniques allow for a rapid and accurate detection of RVFV. This study aims to assess the efficiency and accurateness of RVFV molecular diagnostic methods used by expert laboratories worldwide. Thirty expert laboratories from 16 countries received a panel of 14 samples which included RVFV preparations representing several genetic lineages, a specificity control and negative controls. In this study we present the results of the first international external quality assessment (EQA) for the molecular diagnosis of RVF. Optimal results were reported by 64% of the analyses, 21% of the analyses achieved acceptable results and 15% of the results revealed that there is need for improvement. Evenly good performances were achieved by specific protocols which can therefore be recommended as an accurate molecular protocol for the diagnosis of RVF. Other protocols showed uneven performances revealing the need for improved optimization and standardization of these protocols.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Centre for Biosafety, Berlin, Germany. escadafalc@rki.de
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escadafal
authors.forename: Janusz T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Paweska
authors.forename: Antoinette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grobbelaar
authors.forename: Chantel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: le Roux
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouloy
authors.forename: Pranav
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teichmann
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Donoso-Mantke
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niedrig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D059021:Laboratory Proficiency Testing; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012295:Rift Valley Fever / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000662:veterinary; D012296:Rift Valley fever virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014773:Virology / Q000592:standards*