Table 2.

Laboratory diagnostic methods for AiV.

Laboratory diagnostic method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Electron microscopy	Visualization of viral particles	Labour and tedious. Useless for environmental samples
Cell culture	Variety of sensitive cell lines. Determination of infectivity. Quantitative (TCID50)	Labour and tedious. Effect of inhibitors/contaminants
ELISAa	Sensitivity. Especificity	Effect of inhibitors. Limited use for environmental samples
LAMPb	Sensitivity. Especificity. Rapidity. Isothermal conditions	Detection of infective and non-infective particles. Effect of inhibitors
RT-PCRc	Sensitivity. Especificity. Rapidity	Detection of infective and non-infective particles. Effect of inhibitors
RT-nested PCR	Sensitivity. Especificity. Valid for genotyping coupled with sequencing	Detection of infective and non-infective particles. Effect of inhibitors
RT-qPCRd	Sensitivity. Especificity. Rapidity. Quantification	Detection of infective and non-infective particles. Need of standard for quantification. Expensive
Digital RT-PCR	Sensitivity. Especificity. Rapidity. Absolute quantification	Detection of infective and non-infective particles. Hard optimization. Expensive
Pyrosequencing	Sensitivity. Universal detection	Complex sample processing and bioinformatic analysis. Expensive

^aELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

^bLAMP, loop-mediated isothermal amplification.

^cRT-PCR, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.

^dRT-qPCR, real time quantitative RT-PCR.