Infectious Disease Testing

The highly mutable nature of pathogens often proves challenging in molecular assay design. Traditional qPCR assays are designed so that a single primer and probe set targets one location within the pathogen genome. However, these single-target assays often prove inadequate to detect and quantify viral targets. Sequence polymorphisms in the assay target region can cause impaired primer or probe binding, which may result in significant under-quantification or a false negative result. To eliminate this possibility, Eurofins Viracor’s qPCR assays often target two regions within the pathogen genome, utilizing unique primer and probe sets for each target site. The driving principle behind our multiple-target assay design is that when a polymorphism occurs in one assay target, the additional sets of primers and probes for the alternate target region will still detect and accurately quantify the pathogen, and thus reduces the likelihood of under-quantification or a false negative result.

By utilizing nucleic acid sequence databases, each qPCR assay is regularly assessed to verify that new pathogen strains or genetic polymorphisms that arise will not lead to a false negative result. If a new pathogen strain or genetic polymorphism is identified that would lead to a false-negative result, our current qPCR assay is refined and revalidated to ensure that accurate test results are always reported. 

We design each of our assays to account for all strains, serotypes, and clinical isolates - not just the most common ones. This is especially beneficial for immunocompromised patients who may be more likely to be infected with multiple or unusual strains. For example, the Adenovirus qPCR assay detects all known viral serotypes with equal sensitivity.

Additionally, we've designed and validated each assay to ensure there is no cross reactivity with other commonly occurring pathogens. This is critically important when testing for genetically similar but clinically divergent pathogens, such as BK virus and JC virus.

Not only are our assays extremely sensitive with rapid turnaround time, but they can identify pathogens using many different types of clinical specimens, such as plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, lung tissue, bone marrow aspirate, throat specimens and fecal specimens, among other fluids and tissues.  

By providing more options you can determine what is best for your patient and capture localized viral presentations. We pay as careful attention to our extraction methodology as we do to primer and probe design. Eurofins Viracor understands that the sensitivity of PCR relies heavily on the efficiency of nucleic acid extraction. Therefore, we don't employ a "one size fits all" mentality. Our extraction methods are specimen-specific, ensuring maximum nucleic acid yields to provide the most efficient, reproducible, and sensitive results.