Patent ID: 7439015

Claim:
A method for determining whether a viable, infectious, cytoplasmic-replicating first DNA virus is present in a sample not known to contain the first DNA virus, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting the sample with a first group of host cells capable of being infected by the first DNA virus; (b) transiently transfecting the first group of host cells with a reporter construct comprising a reporter sequence operably linked to a virus-specific promoter sequence, wherein the virus-specific promoter sequence enhances the transcription of the reporter sequence in host cells infected by the first DNA virus; (c) determining an expression level of the reporter sequence in the first group of host cells, thereby determining whether the first DNA virus is present in the sample; and (d) performing a positive control assay, the positive control assay comprising the steps of: (i) transiently transfecting a second group of host cells with the reporter construct; (ii) infecting the second group of host cells with a second DNA virus, the second DNA virus being less virulent than the first DNA virus, wherein the virus-specific promoter enhances the transcription of the reporter sequence in the presence of the second DNA virus; and (iii) determining an expression level of the reporter sequence in the second group of host cells, thereby determining that the presence of the first DNA virus in the sample can be detected.