Evaluation of Group specific Nested PCR for detection of Bluetongue virus

During the present study RT-PCR and nested PCR was evaluated for the detection of BTV in blood samples collected from suspected cases of bluetongue. Due to conserved nature, NS1 gene was targeted for the development of partial length and nested PCR assay. The partial length RT-PCR and nested PCR assays yielded a specific PCR product of expected 274 bp and 101 bp sizes, respectively. In, the present study out of 68 blood samples processed for BTV detection, 2 samples were found positive for BTV genome by RT-PCR as well as in nested PCR. The described BTV PCR based assay provides a valuable tool to study the epidemiology of BTV infection in susceptible domestic livestock.