Development of Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals (DIVA) Real-Time PCR for African Horse Sickness Virus Serotype 1.

Yifan Wang, Jasmine Ong, Oi Wing Ng, Tapanut Songkasupa, Eileen Y Koh, Jeslyn P S Wong, Kanokwan Puangjinda, Charlene Judith Fernandez, Taoqi Huangfu, Lee Ching Ng, Siow Foong Chang, Him Hoo Yap

Emerging infectious diseases 2022 Dec 01

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African horse sickness (AHS) is a highly infectious and often fatal disease caused by 9 serotypes of the orbivirus African horse sickness virus (AHSV). In March 2020, an AHS outbreak was reported in Thailand in which AHSV serotype 1 was identified as the causative agent. Trivalent live attenuated vaccines serotype 1, 3, and 4 were used in a targeted vaccination campaign within a 50-km radius surrounding the infected cases, which promptly controlled the spread of the disease. However, AHS-like symptoms in vaccinated horses required laboratory diagnostic methods to differentiate infected horses from vaccinated horses, especially for postvaccination surveillance. We describe a real-time reverse transcription PCR-based assay for rapid characterization of the affecting field strain. The development and validation of this assay should imbue confidence in differentiating AHS-vaccinated horses from nonvaccinated horses. This method should be applied to determining the epidemiology of AHSV in future outbreaks.

Citation

Yifan Wang, Jasmine Ong, Oi Wing Ng, Tapanut Songkasupa, Eileen Y Koh, Jeslyn P S Wong, Kanokwan Puangjinda, Charlene Judith Fernandez, Taoqi Huangfu, Lee Ching Ng, Siow Foong Chang, Him Hoo Yap. Development of Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals (DIVA) Real-Time PCR for African Horse Sickness Virus Serotype 1. Emerging infectious diseases. 2022 Dec 01;28(12):2446-2454