Evaluation of West Nile Virus Diagnostic Capacities in Veterinary Laboratories of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions
Elisa Pérez-Ramírez,
Cristina Cano-Gómez,
Francisco Llorente,
Ani Vodica,
Ljubiša Veljović,
Natela Toklikishvilli,
Kurtesh Sherifi,
Soufien Sghaier,
Amel Omani,
Aida Kustura,
Kiril Krstevski,
Ilke Karayel-Hacioglu,
Naglaa Mohamed Hagag,
Jeanne El Hage,
Hasmik Davdyan,
Mohd Saddam Bintarif,
Bojan Adzic,
Nabil Abouchoaib,
Miguel Ángel Jiménez-Clavero,
Jovita Fernández-Pinero
Affiliations
Elisa Pérez-Ramírez
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CISA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain
Cristina Cano-Gómez
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CISA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain
Francisco Llorente
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CISA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain
Ani Vodica
Department of Animal Health, Food Safety and Veterinary Institute, Tirana, Albania
Ljubiša Veljović
Virology Department, Scientific Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Natela Toklikishvilli
Laboratory of Virology and Molecular Biology, LEPL State Laboratory of Agriculture (SLA), 0159 Tbilisi, Georgia
Kurtesh Sherifi
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Prishtina “Hasan Pristhina”, 10000 Prishtine, Kosovo
Soufien Sghaier
Virology Department, Institute of Veterinary Research of Tunisia, 1006 Tunis, Tunisia
Amel Omani
Laboratoire Central Vétérinaire d’Alger, Institut National de la Médecine Vétérinaire, Algiers, Algeria
Aida Kustura
Veterinary Faculty, University of Sarajevo, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kiril Krstevski
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Ilke Karayel-Hacioglu
Virology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ankara University, 06110 Ankara, Turkey
Naglaa Mohamed Hagag
Animal Health Research Institute, Dokki 12618, Egypt
Jeanne El Hage
Animal Health Laboratory, Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute, 90-1064 Fanar, Lebanon
Hasmik Davdyan
Republican Veterinary-Sanitary and Phytosanitary Center of Laboratory Services SNCO, Yerevan, Armenia
Mohd Saddam Bintarif
Animal Wealth Laboratory Sector, Ministry of Agriculture, Amman, Jordan
Bojan Adzic
Diagnostic Veterinary Laboratory, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro
Nabil Abouchoaib
Casablanca Regional Research and Analysis Laboratory of National Office of Sanitary Safety and Food Products (ONSSA), Nouaceur, 20 000 Casablanca, Morocco
Miguel Ángel Jiménez-Clavero
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CISA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain
Jovita Fernández-Pinero
Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CISA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Spain
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.
