TABLE 3.

Limits of detection of the ORF 1b and N gene assays as determined with a terminal dilution series of SARS-CoV RNA

Dilution	Estimated GE/mla	No. detected/no. tested (%)b for assay
		ORF 1b	N gene
Neat	1,500	8/8 (100)	8/8 (100)
1:2	750	4/8 (50)	3/8 (38)
1:4	380	0/8 (0)	2/8 (25)
1:8	190	1/8 (13)	1/8 (13)
1:16	90	0/8 (0)	2/8 (25)

^aGE were estimated by using the BNI-1 standard curve (Fig. 1).

^bC_T < 40.