The month of May marks the beginning of mosquito season for North America. As mosquitoes begin to populate, the threat of West Nile Virus (WNV) rises. WNV activity can be observed throughout the United States.

According to the CDC, about 1 in 5 people infected with WNV will develop a febrile illness and about 1 in 150 infected people will develop a serious and potentially fatal illness2. To date, no vaccines or specific antiviral treatments are available for WNV infection which is why mosquito control and surveillance is of paramount importance.  

Figure 1. West Nile Virus Activity by State according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1

Pro-Lab Diagnostic’s Pro-AmpRT West Nile Virus Detection Assay has been evaluated for detection of WNV in mosquitoes and birds by the Centers for Disease Control, as well as vector control and public health laboratories3-7. Performance characteristics evaluated were sensitivity, specificity, and correlation to RT-PCR. The findings were as follows:

Sensitivity limit ~3.1 log10 PFU/mL (mosquito pools)

100% WNV specificity

98% positive correlation with RT-PCR based on established sensitivity limit

Additional features noted about the assay include:

Self-contained kits (all reagents required for WNV detection are included)

Sample processing protocols are the same as RT-PCR

Rapid sample to answer compared to RT-PCR (30 min vs 2 hrs)

Genie isothermal device is easy to use

The Pro-AmpRT WNV Assay has been validated for use on the Genie isothermal instrument and Real-time PCR machines. The Pro-AmpRT WNV Assay is an alternative molecular solution for laboratories looking to improve the reliability of their results and their overall surveillance capabilities.  

How does your institution detect West Nile Virus?

What challenges do you face with current testing methods?

Citations

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). West Nile Virus. Statistics and Maps [Cited 2018 May 04]. https://www.cdc.gov/westnile/statsmaps/preliminarymapsdata2017/activitystate.html
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). West Nile Virus [Cited 2018 May 04]. https://www.cdc.gov/westnile/index.html
3. Kristen L Burkhalter and Harry M. Savage. Evaluation of two options for molecular detection of West Nile Virus in mosquito pools: real time RT-PCR and real time RT-LAMP. American Mosquito Control Association Conference; March 2015; New Orleans, LA. Poster.
4. Kristen L Burkhalter, Keenan Wiggins, Nathan Burkett-Cadena, Barry W Alto. Laboratory Evaluation of Commercially Available Platforms to Detect West Nile and Zika Viruses From Honey Cards. Journal of Medical Entomology, tjy005, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjy005. Abstract
5. Kristen L Burkhalter, Michael O’Keefe, Zachary Watson, Theodore Green, and Daniel Markowski. Laboratory and Field Evaluation of Real-time RT-LAMP and real time RT-PCR assays to detect West Nile Virus in mosquito pools. American Mosquito Control Association Conference; February 2018; Kansas City, MO. Oral Presentation.
6. Daniel Markowski, Cristina Flores, Charlie Broschart, Kristen L Burkhalter. Assessment of the Pro-AmpRT LAMP assay to detect West Nile Virus in the Franklin County Public Health Mosquito Management Program. American Mosquito Control Association Conference; February 2018; Kansas City, MO. Oral Presentation.
7. Lauren Wilkerson, Martin Reyna, Mustapha Debboun. West Nile Virus Detection in Avian Samples using LAMP. American Mosquito Control Association Conference; February 2018; Kansas City, MO. Oral Presentation.