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Updated: Oct 3, 2026
EPA Method 1615. Measurement of Enterovirus and Norovirus Occurrence in Water by Culture and RT-qPCR. Part III. Virus Detection by RT-qPCR
Published on: January 16, 2016
Detecting the presence of infectious hepatitis A virus in molluscs positive to RT-nested-PCR
D De Medici1, L Croci, S Di Pasquale
1Laboratorio Alimenti, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. dario.demedici@iss.it
Aims:
The objective of this study was to determine the presence of infectious hepatitis A virus (HAV) in molluscs naturally contaminated with viral HAV-RNA.
Methods And Results:
One hundred and forty-two mollusc samples were analysed for the presence of viral HAV-RNA using RT-nested-PCR; positive samples were then analysed with an integrated method, cell-culture RT-PCR, to detect infectious virus. Viral HAV-RNA was detected in 34.5% of the samples while 12.7% of the total samples were positive for the presence of infectious virus.
Conclusions:
The results demonstrate the validity of the screening method (RT-nested-PCR) and the necessity of applying a method that is capable of detecting the presence of infectious HAV.
Significance And Impact Of The Study:
The study demonstrates that in any case, to determine the safety for human consumption, the results of RT-nested-PCR must be confirmed with an integrated cell-culture PCR method.
