Identification of African horse sickness virus in cell culture using a digoxigenin-labeled RNA probe

A digoxigenin-labeled RNA probe was synthesized from a plasmid containing a portion of the African horse sickness virus (AHSV) serotype 4 genome segment coding for nonstructural protein 1. In an in situ hybridization procedure, this probe hybridized successfully to Vero cells infected with each of the 9 serotypes of AHSV. There was no hybridization with noninfected cell cultures or cell cultures infected with bluetongue virus.