Confirmation of WNV by PCR Neurologic Disease in Alpacas Using Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain

Principal investigator:

Dr. Michelle Kutzler DVM, PhD, DACT
Oregon State University

The original objective of this grant was to confirm or rule-out the presence of WNV within postmortem tissues submitted from alpaca veterinarians across the country and provide this information to alpaca ranchers and veterinarians. Owners and referring veterinarians have been reluctant to send samples for this study. Over the past three years, samples from only ten animals have been received despite advertisement on the Alpaca Research Foundation website, the International Lama Registry website and verbal communication at meetings and over the phone with veterinarians and owners across the country. To address this reluctance as well as provide an important new diagnostic tool for the fight against WNV, we modified our objectives to include development of an antemortem IgM-capture ELISA that is able to accurately diagnose acute infection rapidly so the appropriate treatment can be implemented.