Comparison of virus isolation and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of bovine viral diarrhea virus in bulk milk tank samples
Rw. Renshaw et al., Comparison of virus isolation and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of bovine viral diarrhea virus in bulk milk tank samples, J VET D INV, 12(2), 2000, pp. 184-186
The use of a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay
to screen bulk milk tank samples for bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) ha
s proven to be a sensitive and economical means to evaluate the lactating a
nimals in a herd. The assay is capable of detecting the presence of a singl
e persistently infected animal within a group of several hundred cows. Over
a 3-year period, 144 samples from 97 farms were tested for BVDV using an R
T-PCR assay in conjunction with a classical virus isolation (VI) procedure
to measure the relative effectiveness of the techniques. Virus could be det
ected with both methods when the milk from a single persistently infected a
nimal was diluted 1:600 with the milk from a herd of BVDV-negative animals.
Based on individual farms, there was an overall prevalence of 12.4% BVDV i
nfection, and the correlation between the 2 assays was 95.9%. In terms of s
ensitivity, specificity, and turnaround time, RT-PCR was superior to VI. Ho
wever, of the 17 samples that were VI positive, 4 were RT-PCR negative. RT-
PCR may not detect all naturally occurring BVDV isolates because they may c
ontain minor sequence variations in the primer regions. VI and RT-PCR are b
oth suitable for detection of BVDV in bulk milk samples when used independe
ntly, but to increase the probability of successful detection and to provid
e cross-checks against assay contamination, it is desirable to utilize both
methods in parallel.