IDRC : Virology

The Virology Unit continued to be the main Public Health Laboratory in the Ministry of Health providing diagnostic services for the prevalent medical viral infection, serving most government hospitals and clinics in the country. It also serves as reference laboratories for diagnosis of wide range of diseases. These include:

• WHO National Influenza Centre
• WHO National Laboratory for Poliovirus
• WHO National Japanese Encephalitis Laboratory
• National AIDS Reference Laboratory
• National Laboratory for potency testing of Viral Vaccines viz Measles, Polio live viral vaccines
• National Reference Laboratory for SARS Corona Virus
• National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza

Statistical overview

NUMBER OF LABORATORY SERVICES PERFORMED BY

VIROLOGY UNIT (2001 – 2010)

SEROLOGICAL TESTS PERFORMED BY THE VIROLOGY UNIT IN 2010

SPECIALISED TEST: VIRAL ISOLATION & IDENTIFICATION PERFORMED IN 2010

SPECIALISED TEST: MOLECULAR TECHNIQUES PERFORMED IN 2010

All diagnostic work in the unit is carried out in 3 main laboratories namely molecular diagnostic, serology and tissue culture. The list of current tests performed at the unit is as follows:

Serology

• Dengue (Haemagglutination Inhibition & ELISA-IgM)

• Japanese encephalitis (Haemagglutination Inhibition & ELISA-IgM)

• Nipah(ELISA-  IgM &IgG)

• Rubella (ELISA-  IgM &IgG)

• CMV(ELISA-  IgM &IgG)

• HIV (ELISA, Particle Agglutination, Immunoblot, Western blot)

• Hepatitis Types A, B & C

ELISA for detection of Japanese Encephalitis		Haemagglutination Inhibition Test

Tissue Culture   Viral Meningitis/Encephalitis/ Cardiomyopathy Syndrome Cell Culture Neutralization Assay Immunoflurorescent Ab assay   Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease Cell Culture Neutralization Assay Immunoflurorescent Ab assay   CMV Reference Test DEAFF Cell Culture Neutralization Assay   Poliomyelitis Cell Culture of AFP (Acute Flaccid Paralysis) and Non- AFP specimens Typing by Microneutralization Assay  Immunoflurorescent Ab assay  Intratypic Differentiation (ITD)  Vaccine Derived Poliovirus   Arbovirus Isolation Work Cell culture Suckling mice Immunofluorescence Ab assay   Chikungunya and Influenza  viruses Cell Culture Immunoflurorescence Ab assay   Rabies	Handling of risk group 3 viruses in BSL 3 Lab
	Tissue culture work in BSL 2 laboratory
	Uninfected MDCK cell culture
	Infected MDCK cell culture
	Immunoflurorescence Ab assay

Molecular Diagnostics

List of reference tests performed in the unit by molecular techniques

• Pan-Enterovirus
• EV-71
• Dengue
• JE
• Chikungunya
• HIV
• SARS CoV
• Human Influenza A / B, Avian Influenza
• Outbreak H1N1 PCR Tests
• A (H1N1)Oseltamivir Resistant Tests
• Pandemic H1N1 mutation analysis by sequencing

Personnel opreating the PCR thermal cycle		Real Time PCR Thermal cyclers in the unit		Preparation of master mix for PCR using liquid handling system		Virology Unit’s Sequencer 3730xl

Outbreak Investigations

Examples:

• SARS in 2003
• Avian Influenza investigations: 2004, 2006 & 2007
• Chikungunya from 2008 to 2009
• Recent influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in 2009

Handling of specimens during outbreaks

Negative stained  adenovirus particles, 80 nm diameter from infected Hep-2 culture fluid  isolated from an acute respiratory disease outbreak in a police training centre in Kuala Lumpur 2011 (Bar=100nm)

Negative stained  particles Influenza B virus particles in respiratory specimens from acute respiratory disease outbreak in Penang 2006.

Severe cytopathological effect (CPE) from Chikungunya virus infection results in rupture of plasma membrane as newly assembled virus bud out of the cell (Chikungunya Outbreak 2008-2009).

Electron micrograph  shows  cluster of negatively stained rotavirus  particles in stool specimens of infected patients  in the acute gastroenteritis outbreak in April 2004 in Cameron Highlands, Pahang.   Bar = 100 nm.