Screening your mice? Try our Mouse Essentials PCR Panel. All the most important mouse colony screening tests, all by expert real time PCR...

...or how about our new Mouse PCR Minipanel - PCR tests for only the most common mouse pathogens - for economical colony screening...

...and don't forget our Mouse Fecal PCR Panel - includes 9 important fecal pathogens.

And... just for rabbits: our new Rabbit Fecal PCR Panel tests for 3 common causes of GI problems in rabbits.

For wild rodent infestations, remediation and environmental monitoring, use our Rodent Infestation PCR Panel

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Zoologix also performs rodent and rabbit PCR tests for...

Aspiculuris tetraptera

Bordetella

BXV-1 virus

Campylobacter

Chapparvovirus

Clostridium piliforme

Coccidia

E. coli (enteroinvasive)

Ectromelia

EDIM

Encephalitozoon cuniculi

Encephalomyocarditis

Francisella tularensis

Fur mites

Hantavirus

Helicobacter

Human adenoviruses

Klebsiella pneumoniae

K virus

Lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus

Leptospira

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)

Mites

Mouse adenoviruses

Mouse cytomegaloviruses

Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV)

Mouse kidney parvovirus (MKV or MKPV)

Mouse minute virus (MMV)

Mouse norovirus (MNV)

Mouse parvovirus (MPV)

Mouse polyoma virus (POLY)

Mousepox virus (aka ectromelia virus, EV or ECTRO)

Mouse rotavirus

Mycoplasma pulmonis

Mycoplasma screen

Pasteurella

Pinworms

Pneumocystis carinii

Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM)

Rabbit coronavirus

Rabbit fibroma virus

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus

Rat bite fever

Rat coronavirus

Reovirus screen

Reovirus type 3 (REO3)

Rotavirus

Salmonella

Sendai virus (SEND)

Seoul virus

Shigella

Sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV)

Streptobacillus moniliformis

Streptococcus pneumoniae

Syphacia muris

Syphacia obvelata

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV)

Tickborne encephalitis virus

Treponema cuniculi/ paraluiscuniculi

Tularemia

Tyzzer's disease

Whitewater Arroyo virus

Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis


Rat coronavirus (SDAV) PCR test

rodent and rabbit assay data sheet

Rat coronavirus (SDAV)

Test code: S0143 - Ultrasensitive qualitative detection of rat coronavirus (Sialodacryoadenitis virus or SDAV) by reverse transcription coupled real time PCR


Rat coronavirus or Sialodacryoadenitis (SDA) virus is an airborne RNA virus whose primary route of infection is via respiratory aerosol. Contact with feces, food, bedding, cages or other fomites can also spread the disease. Infection of laboratory rats with this virus has been a major problem in animal facilities in many countries (Lussier and Descôteaux, 1986).

Because of the airborne route of infection, SDAV is highly contagious in rat colonies. The infection is generally not fatal, but it weakens animals’ immune systems, allowing secondary bacterial infections that can be fatal. If the animals are undergoing research experiments, SDAV infection may compromise interpretation of research findings.

Rats infected with rat coronavirus begin to show symptoms as early as 5 days, with respiratory involvement and cervical swelling by 7-8 days. The infection often presents as a characteristic inflammation of submaxillary and parotid salivary glands, which can result in tissue necrosis. Cervical lymph nodes and/or the harderian and intraorbital lacrimal glands behind the eyes may also be affected. As a result, bulging eyes, ocular lesions, facial swelling, lacerations, porphyrin discharge, bleeding or squinting due to photosensitivity may be observed. Sometimes symptoms may give the appearance of a shortened or swollen neck. In extreme cases, eyesight can be lost or compromised permanently due to the infection or from self-mutilation caused by scratching. Eye bulging may take several weeks to subside due to retro-orbital swelling.

Not all rats infected with SDAV show symptoms; some become carriers and pass the virus to other animals in a colony.  Serological detection of the virus is of limited value because it takes 2 to 3 weeks after initial exposure (ie 1 to 2 weeks after clinical symptoms appear) for a detectable immune response to develop. Therefore, testing clinically affected rats using only serology methods often yields false negative results. Molecular detection of this virus by PCR, in contrast, is rapid, sensitive and specific, and is useful even immediately following infection.

Utilities:

  • Help confirm the disease causing agent
  • Shorten the time required to confirm a clinical diagnosis of SDAV
  • Help ensure that rat colonies are free of SDAV
  • Early prevention of spread of SDAV among a population or in a geographic area
  • Minimize human exposure to SDAV
  • Safety monitoring of biological products that derive from rats

References:
Lussier, G. and Descôteaux, J.P. (1986) Prevalence of natural virus infections in laboratory mice and rats used in Canada. Lab Anim Sci. 36:145–148.

Specimen requirements: 1 fecal pellet, or 0.2 ml whole blood in EDTA (purple top) tube, or respiratory swab, or ocular swab.

Contact Zoologix if advice is needed to determine an appropriate specimen type for a specific diagnostic application. For specimen types not listed here, please contact Zoologix to confirm specimen acceptability and shipping instructions.

For all specimen types, if there will be a delay in shipping, or during very warm weather, refrigerate specimens until shipped and ship with a cold pack unless more stringent shipping requirements are specified. Frozen specimens should be shipped so as to remain frozen in transit. See shipping instructions for more information.

Turnaround time: 2 business days

Methodology: Qualitative reverse transcription coupled real time polymerase chain reaction

Normal range: Nondetected

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