infectious diseases
New VPD Reference Center PCR Assay to Rapidly Identify Measles Vaccine Strain Now Available
By Kevin Bradley , senior specialist , Infectious Diseases
In public health investigations , rapid detection and characterization of pathogens facilitates timely implementation of appropriate response measures critical to curtailing the spread of disease . Seven to 11 days following receipt of the MMR vaccine , some recipients exhibit a mild form of measles not thought to be contagious . Distinguishing vaccine reactions from wild type virus saves time , resources and focuses public health efforts on true cases potentially associated with outbreaks .
The APHL / CDC Vaccine Preventable Disease ( VPD ) Reference Centers are implementing a new real-time reverse transcription PCR ( RT-qPCR ) assay ( MeVA ) that is highly specific for the non-circulating measles virus strains of genotype A , the viruses used in the production of the Measles Mumps Rubella ( MMR ) vaccine . 1 This assay will be used along with the more sensitive measles virus ( MeV ) RT-qPCR diagnostic assay to rule out vaccine-related cases from outbreak investigations .
Until now , identifying a vaccine-related virus was a two-step process , first detecting by MeV RT-qPCR and then genotyping by sequencing . Eliminating the second step for known genotype A specimens decreases turnaround time for identifying a vaccine-related virus up to one week , providing the opportunity for a more efficient public health response .
The test will be available to other public health laboratories in the first quarter of 2018 . APHL will send a communication announcing test availability and instructions for ordering the test once it is deployed at all VPD Reference Centers . n
References
1 . Roy F ., et al . 2017 . Rapid Identification of Measles Virus Vaccine Genotype by Real-Time PCR . Journal of Clinical Microbiology 55:735-743 . https :// doi . org / 10.1128 / JCM . 01879-16 .
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