Molecular amplification assays for the detection of flaviviruses.

Over the past 10 years, a number of molecular amplification assays have been developed for the detection of flaviviruses. Most of these assays utilize the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as the amplification format with detection by either agarose gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining or hybridization with molecular probes. Recently, a modification of the standard RT-PCR using fluorescent-labeled oligonucleotide probes for detection (TaqMan) has been described. As a result, several assays for detecting flaviviruses have been developed using this approach. In addition, another amplification format, nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA), has been developed and utilized for the detection of several flaviviruses. The various assay formats will be described and their utility discussed.