Evaluation of West Nile Virus Diagnostic Capacities in Veterinary Laboratories of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions
Journal
Pathogens
Date Issued
2020-12-11
Author(s)
Pérez-Ramírez, Elisa
Cano-Gómez, Cristina
Llorente, Francisco
Vodica, Ani
Veljović, Ljubiša
Toklikishvilli, Natela
Sherifi, Kurtesh
Sghaier, Soufien
Omani, Amel
Kustura, Aida
Karayel-Hacioglu, Ilke
Hagag, Naglaa
El Hage, Jeanne
Davdyan, Hasmik
Bintarif, Mohd
Adzic, Bojan
Abouchoaib, Nabil
Jiménez-Clavero, Miguel
Fernández-Pinero, Jovita
DOI
10.3390/pathogens9121038
Abstract
<jats:p>The increasing incidence of West Nile virus (WNV) in the Euro-Mediterranean area warrants the implementation of effective surveillance programs in animals. A crucial step in the fight against the disease is the evaluation of the capacity of the veterinary labs to accurately detect the infection in animal populations. In this context, the animal virology network of the MediLabSecure project organized an external quality assessment (EQA) to evaluate the WNV molecular and serological diagnostic capacities of beneficiary veterinary labs. Laboratories from 17 Mediterranean and Black Sea countries participated. The results of the triplex real time RT-PCR for simultaneous detection and differentiation of WNV lineage 1 (L1), lineage 2 (L2) and Usutu virus (USUV) were highly satisfactory, especially for L1 and L2, with detection rates of 97.9% and 100%, respectively. For USUV, 75% of the labs reported correct results. More limitations were observed for the generic detection of flaviviruses using conventional reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), since only 46.1% reported correct results in the whole panel. As regards the serological panel, the results were excellent for the generic detection of WNV antibodies. More variability was observed for the specific detection of IgM antibodies with a higher percentage of incorrect results mainly in samples with low titers. This EQA provides a good overview of the WNV (and USUV) diagnostic performance of the involved veterinary labs and demonstrates that the implemented training program was successful in upgrading their diagnostic capacities.</jats:p>
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