DETECTION BY PCR OF WILD-TYPE CANINE PARVOVIRUS WHICH CONTAMINATES DOG VACCINES

A method for detecting wild-type canine parvovirus (CPV) strains which contaminate vaccines for dogs has been developed by PCR. PCR primers which distinguish vaccine strains from the most common, recent strains of wild-type CPV in many countries, including Japan and the United St ates, were developed. This PCR is based on the differences in nucleoti de sequences which determine the two antigenic types of this virus. CP V vaccine strains derived from antigenically old-type virus prevalent in former times were not detected by PCR with differential primers. De tection sensitivity of PCR was 100- to 10,000-fold higher than that of the culture method in Crandell feline kidney cells.