Forty-Five Years of Marburg Virus Research

Brauburger, Kristina; Hume, Adam J.; Mühlberger, Elke; Olejnik, Judith

Virological, serological, and molecular diagnostic methods for the detection for MARV are available, including virus isolation, ELISA, RT-PCR, EM, and immunohistochemistry (summarized in [16, 46] ). During outbreak settings, mobile laboratories commonly use PCR and/or ELISA analysis for rapid screening. Sensitive ELISA assays have been developed for detection of viral antigen or virus-specific antibodies using overexpressed MARV NP or GP [229] [230] [231] [232] . Detection of filoviruses by PCR is the only assay currently available to distinguish between different virus variants for a variety of tissue and fluid specimens. The use of a combination of virus-specific primer sets for conventional RT-PCR makes the detection of all know filoviruses in a single assay possible [233] . For more sensitive and quantitative detection, real-time RT-PCR-based assays have been developed for the detection of MARV [10, [234] [235] [236] [237] [238] . Feasibility of real-time RT-PCR in the field was successfully proven during the MARV outbreak in Uíge, Angola using an improved field laboratory-adapted RNA isolation protocol [239] . A network of European BSL-4 facilities in collaboration with a company (QIAGEN) developed the first commercial prototype of a real-time-RT-PCR assay for the detection of filoviruses [240] . A recently developed assay, RT loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), has the potential to significantly improve field diagnosis of MARV infections, by eliminating the need of PCR machines [241] .