Bluetongue is an economically important disease of ruminants caused by the bluetongue virus (BTV). BTV is serologically diverse, which complicates vaccination strategies. Rapid identification of the causative BTV serotypes is critical, however, real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) can be costly and time consuming to perform when the circulating serotypes are unknown. The Luminex xMAP technology is a high-throughput platform that uses fluorescent beads to detect multiple targets simultaneously. We utilized existing BTV serotyping RT-qPCR assays for BTV-1 to BTV-24 and adapted them for use with the xMAP platform. The xMAP assay specifically detected all 24 BTV serotypes when testing reference strains. In all BTV-positive samples, the sensitivity of the BTV xMAP was 87.55% whereas the sensitivity of the serotype-specific RT-qPCR was 79.85%. The BTV xMAP assay allowed for the specific detection of BTV serotypes 1–24 at a lower cost than current RT-qPCR assays. Overall, the assay provides a useful novel diagnostic tool, particularly when analyzing large sample sets. The use of the BTV xMAP assay will allow for the rapid assessment of BTV epidemiology and may inform decision-making related to control and prevention measures.

中文翻译：

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使用 xMAP 技术同时检测蓝舌病病毒血清型

蓝舌病是由蓝舌病毒 (BTV) 引起的一种经济上重要的反刍动物疾病。BTV 在血清学上具有多样性，这使疫苗接种策略复杂化。快速识别致病 BTV 血清型至关重要，但是，当循环血清型未知时，实时 PCR (RT-qPCR) 可能成本高昂且耗时。Luminex xMAP 技术是一种高通量平台，使用荧光珠同时检测多个目标。我们利用现有的 BTV 血清分型 RT-qPCR 检测 BTV-1 到 BTV-24，并将它们改编为与 xMAP 平台一起使用。在测试参考菌株时，xMAP 检测可特异性检测所有 24 种 BTV 血清型。在所有 BTV 阳性样本中，BTV xMAP 的灵敏度为 87.55%，而血清型特异性 RT-qPCR 的灵敏度为 79.85%。BTV xMAP 分析允许以比当前 RT-qPCR 分析更低的成本特异性检测 BTV 血清型 1-24。总的来说，该测定提供了一种有用的新型诊断工具，尤其是在分析大样本集时。BTV xMAP 检测的使用将允许快速评估 BTV 流行病学，并可能为与控制和预防措施相关的决策提供信息。