MERS-CoV diagnosis: An update.
Diagnosis of MERS-Cov still a major concern in most of daignostic laboratories. To date the Real-time Polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the mainstay for diagnosis of MERS-CoV. RT-PCR has limitations, including a long turnaround time and lack of common measurements and correlations with Viral Load (VL). It is recommended to screen for MERS-CoV using RT-PCR of the upstream of envelope gene (upE) followed by confirmation of the presence of one of the following genes; open reading frame 1A, 1B genes or nucleocapsid (N) gene. Scientists are looking to implement viral sequencing on all negative samples by RT-PCR and they beleive that can be exposed to another level of testing using sequencing of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene or N gene and in this case a positive result is diagnostic. It is also very important to maintain a contineous and random sequencing for MERS-Cov samples to be able to pick early viral mutations. Serological assays still not widely or routinely performed, and a lot of studies looking to implement such method in routine patient's testings.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: johanis@ngha.med.sa.
Sameera
S
Al Johani
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ali H
AH
Hajeer
D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D065207:Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000379:methods*
MERS-COV; RT-PCR; Sequencing; Serology