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Potomac equine fever (PHF, also known as equine monocytic ehrlichiosis) is an acute systemic disease of horses caused by Neorickettsia risticii (N. risticii). PHF was first discovered in 1979 along the Potomac River in Maryland and subsequently became widespread in the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, and other countries. PHF has been studied extensively since its discovery, and it wasn't until 1984 that the breakthrough came when N. risticii was isolated from the blood of an infected pony. N. risticii is an obligate symbiotic bacterium that lives in snails and insects. PHF is acquired when horses accidentally ingest snails and insects infected with N. risticii.
Figure 1. Photomicrograph of adult Acanthatrium trematode collected from intestine of Myotis yumanensis bat (bar = 0.5 mm) (Madigan, et al. 2000).
Potomac Horse Fever PCR Kit Development
Once ingested in horses, N. risticii will attack the gastrointestinal tract, causing a wide range of symptoms including high fever, diarrhea, colitis, dehydration, loss of appetite, depression, and miscarriage. N. risticii causes serious economic losses to the livestock and horse breeding industries. Therefore, developing an accurate and rapid method to detect N. risticii is crucial to control the spread of PHF and reduce economic losses. Serology, cell culture isolation and PCR have been used for the diagnosis of N. risticii. Cell culture isolation is considered to be the gold standard for the detection of N. risticii, however, this method is cumbersome and time-consuming, and requires specialized techniques and equipment, which limits the wide application of cell culture isolation. In recent years, PCR has gradually emerged as an alternative method for cell culture isolation due to its advantages of rapidity, high sensitivity and high specificity. Currently, various PCR methods have been developed for the diagnosis of N. risticii, including: conventional PCR, real-time PCR, nested PCR, etc.
BioVenic is a provider of biology reagents and kits, which has been committed to the development of animal pathogens diagnostic reagents for many years. We have a professional team with extensive experience in veterinary diagnostic and reagent development, and our R&D team is working hard to develop and optimize PCR kits. We can provide you with a series of customized PCR kits for the detection of N. risticii according to your needs. If you have any needs, please feel free to contact us. We will provide you with high-quality products and services.
Potomac Horse Fever PCR Kits We Can Develop
| N. risticii conventional PCR kit | N. risticii real-time PCR kit | N. risticii qPCR kit |
| N. risticii nested PCR kit | Other N. risticii PCR kits |
Workflow of Potomac Horse Fever PCR Kit Development
| Workflow | Details |
| Specimen preparation | Specimens can be collected from horses that were infected by N. risticii. |
| Primer and probes design | Available sequences of N. risticiican be retrieved from GenBank and specific primer/probe sets were designed. |
| Nucleic acid extraction | Extract DNA from cell cultures, and DNA concentration, purity and integrity were measured. |
| Establishment of PCR conditions | Establishment of thermocycling conditions to conduct amplification and detection through PCR. |
| Reproducibility evaluation of the PCR assay | The reproducibility of the PCR kit was assessed by determining the intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variation (CV). |
| Assessment of sensitivity and specificity | The specificity of PCR kit was assessed by detection of DNA from N. risticii. The sensitivity of PCR kit was assessed by determine the limit of detection (LoD) at the DNA levels. |
Delivery
- A series of PCR kits for potomac horse fever
- Product quality inspection report
- Other experimental data you need
Our Advantages
- High sensitivity and high specificity
- High reliability using the internal control
- Professional R&D personnel and technology platform
- Reasonable price and short turnaround time
References
- Paulino, Patrícia Gonzaga, et al. "Detection of Neorickettsia risticii, the agent of Potomac horse fever, in horses from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil." Scientific Reports 10.1 (2020): 1-7.
- Pusterla, Nicola, and John E. Madigan. "Neorickettsia risticii." Equine Infectious Diseases (2007): 357-376.
- Madigan, John E., and Nicola Pusterla. "Ehrlichial diseases." Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice 16.3 (2000): 487-499.
