Research

Research

UW Scientists Streamline Detection of West Nile Virus


	Mosquitoes transmit the West Nile Virus from birds to people, horses and other animals.

Northwest researchers and doctors investigating suspected cases of West Nile Virus no longer must send blood or tissue samples to the East Coast for testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Scientists in the UW Department of Laboratory Medicine have developed a test to detect the virus locally.

According to the CDC, this past year the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus had been detected in some form in more than 7,700 people in 44 states and the District of Columbia.

The new test will make it easier and faster to spot an occurrence of the virus. The assay, based on a polymerized chain reaction (PCR), can locate the virus's gene (named 3'UTR) in blood, spinal fluid, and some other specimens.

West Nile Virus is found in Africa, the Middle East, southern Europe, parts of Asia, and now parts of the United States. Although the virus typically causes a mild illness with low mortality, large outbreaks of severe neurological symptoms have occurred with the disease since 1994. It is believed that this more dangerous form of the virus may indicate an emergence of a new genetic strain of the disease.

The virus is transmitted to people by mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can become infected by feeding on birds that have high levels of West Nile Virus in their blood. Once infected, mosquitoes pass along the virus when they bite humans or other animals. The virus is not transmitted from person to person.

Larry Corey, professor of laboratory medicine and of medicine; and Rhoda Ashley Morrow, Robert Coombs, Meei Li Huang, Keith Jerome and Linda Cook, all of the Division of Virology's Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, developed the new West Nile Virus test.

In addition to the PCR assay, the Virology Division offers serologic testing to detect antibodies that may indicate exposure to the West Nile Virus. However, because this type of testing also picks up cross-reactive antibodies to dengue and certain types of encephalitis, the results may require further interpretation.