News

In 2019, within the framework of the federal special-purpose programme “National system of chemical and biological safety of the Russian Federation” (2015-2020) approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 28, 2015, the Reference Laboratory for Cattle Diseases of the Rosselkhoznadzor subordinated FGBI “Federal Centre for Animal Health” developed test kits for identification of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) virus genome and sheep pox virus genome using real-time PCR.

For that purpose, the Laboratory staff took on the task of analyzing the available PubMed and GenBank databases as well as application tasks related to PCR development. The assessment of the test kits for their specificity using the panel of heterologous and homologous viruses of different geographical origin was performed successfully; the main validation characteristics of the method such as sensitivity, reproducibility and effectiveness were identified and found to be compliant with the international requirements for real-time-PCR-based test kits.

The robustness of the test kits was evaluated within the international comparison tests organized by Sciensano (Belgium) for capripoxviruses and CIRAD (France) for PPR. During these tests, all the coded samples were correctly identified using the developed test kits.

Thus, the developed commercial real-time-PCR-based test kits for PPR and sheep pox virus genome identification can be used in laboratory practice to carry out diagnostic tests for peste des petits ruminants and sheep pox.

FGBI “ARRIAH” Press Office