An oligonucleotide microarray for the detection of vaccinia virus.

Vaccinia virus is a member of the orthopoxvirus group, to which also belongs variola virus, one of the most hazardous pathogens known to man. To establish a model system to detect orthopoxviruses, a vaccinia oligonucleotide microarray is designed, produced and tested. Vaccinia virus is used to test the prepared microarrays. The virus DNA samples in different propagation phases are extracted and hybridised with the oligonucleotide microarray. The results showed that the oligonucleotide microarray can detect vaccinia virus with high specificity and sensitivity.