Molecular diagnosis of avian influenza

Abstract

The use of diagnostic methods based on molecular technology has improved substantially over the last decade; consequently, laboratory tests for the identification and characterisation of avian influenza (AI) viruses have become available. Such tests may be used to detect the AI viral genome directly from clinical specimens as well as to generate data on the molecular characteristics of an isolate or of viral RNA present in a sample collected from an infected animal. In addition, the current definitions of highly pathogenic AI (HPAI) (EC 2006; OIE 2004) are based on the results of conventional and molecular techniques, thus, the latter are among the official methods used to identify virulence factors and to confirm the presence of HPAI viruses in laboratory specimens. © 2009 Springer Milan.