Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, Vol 14, Issue 1, 47-52
Copyright © 2002 by American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians
Development of a semi-nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay for the retrospective diagnosis of canine distemper virus infection
JB Stanton,
S Poet,
S Frasca Jr,
D Bienzle,
and
CC Brown
Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 14 dogs were used to test the utility of a newly developed semi-nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for canine distemper virus (CDV). The results from this new test were compared with those of histopathologic examination, fluorescent antibody detection (FA), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The semi-nested RT-PCR protocol was used to detect CDV RNA in 9 of the 10 cases that were positive by at least 1 of the immunologic (FA and IHC) methods. Sequence data indicated that the amplified strains of CDV are more closely related to a naturally occurring strain than to a vaccine strain. Thus, the semi-nested RT-PCR assay is a useful diagnostic method applicable to the retrospective diagnosis of CDV infection. Sequence determination may yield molecular epidemiologic information regarding vaccine efficacy.
