Development and evaluation of a real-time PCR assay for rapid identification and semi-quantitation of measles virus

Brenda Thomas, Stuart Beard, Li Jin, Kevin Brown*, David Brown

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A real-time PCR assay for measles virus was designed and validated using clinical samples including oral fluids, sera, urines, throat swabs, blood samples, and nasopharyngeal aspirates. The test was specific for measles virus, with a slightly higher sensitivity compared to the conventional nested PCR. Calculation of viral genome number in these samples, by comparison with a standard curve prepared from dilutions of cloned measles virus H gene, indicated that, overall, serum samples tended to have a lower viral load than oral fluid samples, and that the viral load decreased with increasing time after onset of symptoms. The real-time PCR is considered to be a sensitive and specific alternative to the conventional measles PCR, especially in situations where early and rapid diagnosis are important.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1587-1592
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Medical Virology
Volume79
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2007

Keywords

  • Measles RNA
  • Measles virus
  • Quantitation
  • Rapid diagnosis

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