Development of a chikungunya one-step real-time PCR assay

Abstract

Chikungunya is emerging as a threat to human health in Southeast Asia, where there have been numerous outbreaks in the last 3 years. This study developed a qualitative real-time PCR that can detect a wide range of Chikungunya virus strains in a single assay. The limit of detection of this assay is 476.149 PFU/ml, which is much lower than the viral concentration in infected mosquito. This provides an important tool for epidemiological studies to affirm the presence of CHIV in region. In addition it’s used to distinguish the CHIV and DENV infection.