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Discrimination of West Nile Virus and Japanese Encephalitis Virus Strains Using RT‐PCR RFLP Analysis
Author(s) -
Shirato Kazuya,
Mizutani Tetsuya,
Kariwa Hiroaki,
Takashima Ikuo
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2003.tb03381.x
Subject(s) - virology , biology , japanese encephalitis , west nile virus , virus , restriction fragment length polymorphism , encephalitis , flavivirus , flaviviridae , viral encephalitis , polymerase chain reaction , viral disease , genetics , gene
West Nile (WN) virus is a mosquito‐borne flavivirus that induces lethal encephalitis in humans and horses. Since an outbreak of WN encephalitis in humans and horses occurred in New York City in late August 1999, the possibility exists that WN virus will invade regions that have close links with the United States, such as Japan. We developed a genetic diagnostic method that discriminates between strains of WN virus and Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus. The method involves RT‐PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with a RT‐PCR primer set, a nested PCR primer set, and a restriction enzyme. We detected WN and JE viruses in experimentally infected animal brain, spleen, and serum samples. Our method is useful in distinguishing WN viruses from the endemic background of JE viruses, and in discriminating the highly virulent WN strain, which was isolated in New York in 1999, from other WN virus strains.