Surveillance of flavivirus work horses (Equus caballus) using RT-PCR in Wright Park, Baguio City

• Main Authors: Limqueco, Ana Camille R., Tsoi, Maria Liza L.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Horses > Philippines; Domestic animals > Philippines; Animals > Philippines; Flaviviruses > Philippines
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/7370
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study was done in order to detect for the presence of flavivirus in work horses in Wright Park, Baguio city. Migratory birds involved in the life cycle of some flaviviruses are known to inhabit the northern region of Luzon, including the Cordillera Administrative Region, where Baguio City is situated. Re-emergence of some flaviviruses in equine such as WNV and JEV have been reported in other countries. Hence, detection of flavivirus in horses are important especially in places at high risk. Serum and nasal swab samples were taken from 80 out of 100 work horses at Wright Park and detection was carried out using molecular techniques such as viral extraction, RT-PCR, AGE, and DNA sequencing. All serum samples tested negative for flavivirus. For the nasal swab samples, results showed that 4 out of the 80 nasal swab samples were positive for flavivirus and analysis after BLAST indicated high similarities with DENV-1 isolate from China (KU094071.1).