As interest in wildlife diseases increases, most laboratories are challenged to have the necessary cell cultures to match with the affected species. still widely used; however, many are too slow to have any direct influence on the clinical management of an index case. For some economically important viruses, standardized diagnostic tests and reagents of good quality are available commercially; Sofinicline (ABT-894, A-422894) assays have been miniaturized to conserve reagents and decrease costs; instruments have been developed to automate tests, again often decreasing costs; and computerized analyses aid in making the interpretation of results as objective as possible in addition to facilitating reporting, record keeping, and billing. Respiratory diseases, diarrheal diseases of neonates, and some mucocutaneous diseases may be caused by a variety of different infectious agents, including viruses. Rapid and accurate identification of the causative agent can be the basis for establishing a management plan that prevents additional losses in the stable, kennel, flock, or herd. Tests to support or establish a specific diagnosis of a viral infection are of five general types: (1) those that demonstrate the presence of infectious virus; (2) those that detect viral antigens; Sofinicline (ABT-894, A-422894) (3) those that detect viral nucleic acids; (4) those that demonstrate the presence of an agent-specific antibody response; (5) those that directly visualize (see) the virus. Most available routine tests are agent dependentthat is, they are designed to detect a specific virus and will give a negative test result even if other viruses are present in the sample. For this reason, agent-independent tests such as virus isolation and electron microscopy are still used to identify the unexpected or unknown agent in a clinical sample. Traditional methods such as virus isolation are still widely used; however, many are too slow to have any direct influence on clinical management of an index case. A major thrust of the developments in diagnostic sciences continues to be toward rapid methods that provide a definitive answer in less than 24 hours or, optimally, even during the course of the initial examination of the animal. A second major area of interest and focused effort is the development of multiplexed tests that can screen simultaneously for several pathogens from a single sample. The best of these methods fulfill five prerequisites: speed, simplicity, diagnostic sensitivity, diagnostic Mouse monoclonal to CD48.COB48 reacts with blast-1, a 45 kDa GPI linked cell surface molecule. CD48 is expressed on peripheral blood lymphocytes, monocytes, or macrophages, but not on granulocytes and platelets nor on non-hematopoietic cells. CD48 binds to CD2 and plays a role as an accessory molecule in g/d T cell recognition and a/b T cell antigen recognition specificity, and low cost. For some economically important viruses: (1) standardized diagnostic tests and reagents of good quality are available commercially; (2) assays have been miniaturized to conserve reagents and decrease costs; (3) instruments have been developed to automate tests, again often decreasing costs; (4) computerized analyses aid in making the interpretation of results as objective as possible in addition to facilitating reporting, record keeping, and billing. Although less impressive in veterinary medicine in comparison with human medicine (for reasons of economic return on investment and range of tests required across each species), there has been recent expansion in the number of commercially available rapid diagnostic kits. These tests detect viral antigens, allowing a diagnosis from a single specimen taken directly from the animal during the acute phase of the illness, or they test for Sofinicline (ABT-894, A-422894) Sofinicline (ABT-894, A-422894) the presence of virus-specific antibody. Solid-phase enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), in particular, have revolutionized diagnostic virology for both antigen and antibody detection, and are now methods of choice in many situations. For laboratory-based diagnosis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology is now widely used to detect viral nucleic acids in clinical specimens, offering a very rapid alternative to other methods of virus detection. Quantitative PCR assays, in particular, facilitate the very rapid, sensitive, and specific identification of many known pathogenic viruses, and automation of these assays allows the processing of large numbers of samples in short periods of time (high sample-throughput). Another major advantage of quantitative PCR assays is that they provide an objective estimate of viral load in a clinical sample. Research efforts in PCR continue, to move testing from the laboratory to the field, particularly.