Pérez-Ramírez Elisa, Cano-Gómez Cristina, Llorente Francisco, Vodica Ani, Veljović Ljubiša, Toklikishvilli Natela, Sherifi Kurtesh, Sghaier Soufien, Omani Amel, Kustura Aida, Krstevski Kiril, Karayel-Hacioglu Ilke, Hagag Naglaa Mohamed, El Hage Jeanne, Davdyan Hasmik, Bintarif Mohd Saddam, Adzic Bojan, Abouchoaib Nabil, Jiménez-Clavero Miguel Ángel, Fernández-Pinero Jovita
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CISA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain.
Department of Animal Health, Food Safety and Veterinary Institute, Tirana, Albania.
Pathogens. 2020 Dec 11;9(12):1038. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9121038.
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.
西尼罗河病毒（WNV）在欧洲-地中海地区的发病率不断上升，这就需要在动物中实施有效的监测计划。抗击该疾病的关键一步是评估兽医实验室准确检测动物群体中感染情况的能力。在此背景下，MediLabSecure项目的动物病毒学网络组织了一次外部质量评估（EQA），以评估受益兽医实验室对WNV的分子和血清学诊断能力。来自17个地中海和黑海国家的实验室参与其中。用于同时检测和区分WNV 1型（L1）、2型（L2）和乌苏图病毒（USUV）的三重实时RT-PCR结果非常令人满意，尤其是对于L1和L2，检测率分别为97.9%和100%。对于USUV，75%的实验室报告了正确结果。使用传统逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）进行黄病毒的通用检测时，观察到更多局限性，因为在整个样本组中只有46.1%报告了正确结果。关于血清学样本组，WNV抗体的通用检测结果非常出色。在IgM抗体的特异性检测中观察到更多变异性，错误结果的比例更高，主要出现在滴度较低的样本中。这次EQA很好地概述了相关兽医实验室对WNV（和USUV）的诊断性能，并表明实施的培训计划成功提升了它们的诊断能力。
