Validation of a commercial real-time PCR kit for specific and sensitive detection of Pseudorabies.

Pseudorabies virus is the causative agent of Aujeszky's disease, one of the OIE listed diseases that mainly affects swine, but also can affect other animal species, and which can lead to heavy economic losses in pig industry. This study was designed to evaluate the performance of the ADIAVET(®) PRV REALTIME kit, a new commercial real time PCR kit for Pseudorabies virus genome detection developed by the French manufacturer Adiagène. It can be used on pig biological samples such as nasal swab supernatant, tonsil, brain or lung samples, or on samples from other susceptible animals, such as domestic carnivores. This ready-to-use duplex PCR assay contains an external positive control, appropriate for assessing DNA extraction efficiency and the presence of PCR inhibitors. The analytical specificity and sensitivity, intra- and inter-assay repeatability and diagnostic characteristics of the kit were determined and compared with virus isolation, which is the gold standard. Based on these results, the ADIAVET(®) PRV REALTIME kit received full validation for diagnostic purposes.