Description:
Researchers at TGen have developed assays for the detection of Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in complex patient samples. Both PCR and amplicon sequencing assays rapidly diagnose patients with EV-D68 respiratory illness, and can be used to assess a patient’s risk of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) and potentially diagnose AFM. The assays can additionally be used for EV-D68 epidemiological tracking.
Current detection methods for enteroviruses require large amounts of high quality starting material and involved sample preparation methods, which limit the applicability and speed of these methods. Although no viral etiology for this serious neurological illness has been definitively established, EV-D68 has been associated with AFM in case studies, as respiratory illness commonly precedes the onset of AFM. Rapid identification of AFM and related illnesses is important in order to understand risk factors, to target surveillance, to properly treat diagnosed AFM patients, and to help limit future outbreaks.
By targeting the VP1 gene of EV-D68, this assay can detect the virus in clinical samples, including samples from AFM case patients, such as nasopharyngeal swabs and cerebrospinal fluid samples. By further creating amplicons that correspond to pre-selected markers, the sequencing assays are broadly applicable, require only a limited amount of DNA or RNA starting material, and have the ability to use starting material of varying quality, which can be important for clinical and forensic testing.
Link to US Issued Patent 11,359,251
