Composting has been used for disposal of poultry carcasses and manure following outbreaks caused by avian influenza virus (AIV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV), but methods are needed to test for survival of the viruses in compost to ensure biosecurity. Methods developed in the present study include extracting viruses from compost and purifying viral RNA. The extracted viruses were detected b...

A Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) real-time reverse-transcription (rRT-PCR) assay was developed that distinguishes stains of South African and European highly pathogenic (HPAI) from low pathogenicity (LPAI) H5 avian influenza viruses in the absence of virus isolation, irrespective of the length of insertion at the hemagglutinin cleavage site (H0). The assay was used to pathotype H...

BACKGROUND Evaluation of two commercial lateral flow devices (LFDs) for avian influenza (AI) detection in H5N1 highly pathogenic AI infected poultry in Vietnam. OBJECTIVES Determine sensitivity and specificity of the LFDs relative to a validated highly sensitive H5 RRT PCR. METHODS Swabs (cloacal and tracheal) and feathers were collected from 46 chickens and 48 ducks (282 clinical specimens...

Definitive diagnosis of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) requires the detection of virus antigen or genome in clinical material. The aim was performance of real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) procedures for this purpose. Twenty nine cattle samples of vesicular epithelial and nasal swabs from four localities of Ismailia governorates were examined by ELISA, VN, RT-PCR and rRT-PCR. The results showed that 11 s...

BACKGROUND Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are endemic in wild birds and their introduction and conversion to highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in domestic poultry is a cause of serious economic losses as well as a risk for potential transmission to humans. The ability to rapidly recognise AIVs in biological specimens is critical for limiting further spread of the disease in poultry. The a...

Persistently infected (PI) cattle are the reservoir of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), yet data describing BVDV transient infections (TI) among non-PI populations are minimal. Study objectives consisted of: 1. Estimating the onset and duration of TI based on serum VI and rRT-PCR, and 2. Determination of the potential of TI cattle to shed BVDV. Two 21-day studies were performed where one PI ...

OBJECTIVE Examine differences in the detection of influenza by specimen and test type using paired nasal and nasopharyngeal swabs. DESIGN Prospective study SETTING Enrollment took place between January and March 2007 in a central Wisconsin population. PARTICIPANTS Adult patients were screened and enrolled by trained research coordinators following medical encounters for acute respiratory ...

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) is a highly contagious and pathogenic virus of fish. The virus infects more than 70 fish species worldwide, in both fresh and salt water. A new viral strain (VHSV-IVb) has proven both virulent and persistent, spreading throughout the Great Lakes of North America and to inland water bodies in the region. To better understand the geographic distribution o...

The Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus causes a systemic disease with high mortality of poultry and is potentially zoonotic. In both chickens and ducks, the virus has been demonstrated to replicate in both cardiac and skeletal muscle cells. Experimentally, H5N1 HPAI virus has been transmitted to chickens through the consumption of raw infected meat. In this study, we inve...