An assessment of RT-qPCR accuracy in monitoring infectious norovirus in oyster farms

Wastewater contamination causes Norovirus (NoV) to accumulate in commercial shellfish, which is monitored using RT-qPCR. RT-qPCR does not distinguish infectious copies from non-infectious, so it is not ideal for risk assessment. Additionally, sites being sampled are assumed to be spatially homogenous, but this has not been shown. To test homogeneity, and the standard sample size of ten, a single site was intensively sampled during the 2013- 2014 winter period. Analysis of results is ongoing. Also during the winter season, in three additional sites, the ratio of infectious to noninfectious virus copies detected with RT-qPCR was modelled using an FRNA bacteriophage surrogate. Analysis of results is ongoing.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10793/1262

Description

Copyright © 2014 K. Hunt et al. This item is available under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland. No item may be reproduced for commercial purposes. For other possible restrictions on use please refer to the publisher's URL where this is made available, or to notes contained in the item itself. Other terms may apply

Citation

Hunt, K., Butler, F., Doré, B., and Keaveney, S. (2014). An assessment of RT-qPCR accuracy in monitoring infectious norovirus in oyster farms. Biosystems engineering research review, 19, pp. 13-16. http://hdl.handle.net/10197/5672