ABSTRACT
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method was discovered in the last decade but only used for the first time in the diagnosis of mink enteritis virus (MEV) infection in this study. The amplification could be completed within 60 min, under isothermal condition at 65°C, by employing a set of four primers targeting the VP2 gene of MEV. The LAMP was more sensitive than the conventional PCR, with a detection limit of 10(-1) median tissue culture infective doses (TCID(50))/ml per reaction, compared with 10 TCID(50)/ml for PCR analysis. No cross reactivity was observed for other related viruses, including canine distemper virus (CDV) and Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (AMDV). Eighty four of 230 clinical samples were found to be positive for MEV, which is higher than that determined by using the conventional PCR method (68). The results indicate the LAMP can be potentially used to determine MEV as a simple, rapid procedure. This assay would be an available alternative to PCR analysis for the diagnosis of MEV infection in mink, particularly in less well-equipped laboratories and in rural settings where resources are limited.
