Development of a real-time fluorescent TaqMan-quantitative PCR assay for detection of capripoxvirus

A real-time fluorescent TaqMan-quantitative PCR assay using 2 pairs of primers and a probe designed and synthesized according to the P32 gene of the virus genome was developed for the specific detection of capripox virus in epithelial suspensions and cell culture preparations. The real-time fluorescent PCR assay detected specifically CaPV virus in samples with greater sensitivity than the conventional PCR procedure. The fluorescent PCR assay was fast, and could quantitatively assess the virus amounts and could handle more samples and/or replicates of samples in a single assay than the conventional PCR procedure. The results showed that this assay is a valuable complementary tool to the routine diagnostic procedures for the detection of capripox virus infection.