Avian Influenza Surveillance with FTA Cards: Field Methods, Biosafety, and Transportation Issues SolvedRobert H.S. Kraus 1, Pim van Hooft 1, Jonas Waldenström 2, Neus Latorre-Margalef 2, Ronald C. Ydenberg 1,3, Herbert H.T. Prins 1
1Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, 2Section for Zoonotic Ecology and Epidemiology, School of Natural Sciences, Linnaeus University, 3Centre for Wildlife Ecology, Simon Fraser University
A method to preserve, detect and sequence RNA from Avian Influenza Viruses was validated and extended using natural faecal samples from birds. This technique removes the necessity of maintaining a cool chain and handling of infectious viruses and can be applied in a 96-well high-throughput setup.
