I am currently handling a case in my laboratory and I am suspecting a prion infection in the flock and I want to know a simple, possibly home-made protocol that I can use for antemortem or postmortem diagnosis of prion, even if it is not definitive. I just need something qualitative to prove that prion infection is in the flock or not in the flock.
Best regards.
Hi Adebayo,
You do not indicate the animal species; I assume you mean sheep. There is no quick answer to your question because there are several methods for diagnosis and whether you can diagnose it antemortem depends on the prion strain and would involve taking a biopsy. The easiest option is the postmortem diagnosis by creating a haematoxilyn-eosin stain of a section of the brainstem (obex region) to look for vacuolation but the brain must not be autolysed, not all cases present with vacuolation and you need to have some experience to make the correct diagnosis. You find more details about testing for disease at the EURL TSE reference lab website @ https://science.vla.gov.uk/tse-lab-net/index.html and you can also send an email to the lab for further questions.
Best wishes,
Timm
Thank you Timm for this useful suggestion. The animal species is actually chicken but since there is no report of prion infection in chicken before, I decided to look for a cheap, but accurate means of eliminating my suspicion of prion infection in the current case I am handling. Different diagnoses, some to molecular level, have been conducted on the dying flock of chicken including viral and bacterial and the results had been negative for almost all of them. That is why I am considering prion infection since cattle ranch is contiguously situated with the affected chicken flock, and prion infection has been reported and established in cattle.
I will appreciate further suggestions for diagnosis of prion infection, if available, specifically in chicken
However, I will attempt the staining techniques you suggested following the provided protocol.
Thank you and best regards
Ok, this seems to be a far more complex issue and it is probably not appropriate to discuss this in this forum. There is the additional problem that no prion protein-based test has been evaluated in chickens because no positive control material exists. I suggest contacting an OIE reference laboratory for TSEs (or the EURL lab, which is also an OIE reference lab, see email address above) for further advice.
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