DOI: 10.5176/2382-5685_VETSCI15.24
Authors: M.Prajapati, A. Breed2, P. Shrestha, S.P. Shrestha, D.R. Khanal, E. Wise, A. Fooks, R.Prajapati and R. Bowen
Abstract:
Nipah Virus infection (NiV) is an emerging infectious disease of public health importance in South East Asia affecting pigs and people and bat acts as the reservoir host of the virus. In Nepal, the status of NiV infection is unknown. Hence, this study aims to screen for Nipah virus antibody in sera of pigs A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in pigs of Kathmandu valley and Chitwan district where bats of the genus Pteropus sps (fruit bats) are also present. Blood samples of pigs from ear vein were collected and serum was separated and stored in deep freeze at -800C. These sera samples were dispatched to Animal Health Veterinary Laboratory Agency (AHVLA), UK and tested using Luminex binding multiplexed assay. Out of 120 pig sera, only 3 sera samples were found doubtful to Hendra virus and Nipah virus by Luminex binding assay. Those three samples did show levels of binding >500MFI and can be regarded as suspect positives. Though the results from duplicates are not identical, this is commonly seen with pig sera probably exhibiting a lot of non-specific binding from other proteins or immunoglobulins in the sera. It was tried to reduce by using a higher dilution factor but there could still be non-specific binding present, rather than a “positive”. Therefore, confirmatory analysis should be carried out using a virus neutralisation test. This study is a preliminary study against Nipah virus infections in pigs of Nepal using Luminex binding multiplexed assay. Bats of genus pteropus sps are reservoir hosts of Henipa virus and are present in Nepal. Hence continous surveillance study on bats and pigs is very important for early detection, prevention and control of disease.
Keywords: Nipah virus, pigs, bats, Luminex binding multiplexed assay
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