Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a member of the Alphavirus genus, is an important human emerging/re-emerging pathogen. Currently, there are no effective antiviral drugs or vaccines against CHIKV infection. Herein, we construct an infectious clone of CHIKV and an eGFP reporter CHIKV (eGFP-CHIKV) with an isolated strain (assigned to Asian lineage) from CHIKV-infected patients. The eGFP-CHIKV reporter virus allows for direct visualization of viral replication through the levels of eGFP expression. Using a known CHIKV inhibitor, ribavirin, we confirmed that the eGFP-CHIKV reporter virus could be used to identify inhibitors against CHIKV. Importantly, we developed a novel and reliable eGFP-CHIKV reporter virus-based neutralization assay that could be used for rapid screening neutralizing antibodies against CHIKV.

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Nucleic acid amplification technologies (NAT) have been used most for rapid detection of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) since MERS-CoV was first found in 2012. It is important to develop stable and safe reference materials for assessing the quality of NAT kits and external quality assessment (EQA) of different labs. In this study, the MERS-CoV RNA fragments including upE, ORF1b and N were packed within human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) like particles. The lyophilized virus-like particles (VLPs) were found stable at 37˚C or below and safe to be used not only as the control material for PCR detection of MERS-CoV, but also as the reference material for EQA. In an EQA organized by Ningbo International Travel Healthcare Center in China, 49 participating institutes achieved 100% agreement for detecting MERS-CoV using various commercial diagnosis kits and different extraction methods. But the different Ct values reported by the different labs for the same sample implied that there needed to standardize the RNA extraction method and/or the PCR detection conditions between the labs.

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