Japanese scientists have developed a new technique for detecting Koi Herpes Virus which is claimed to be as effective as PCR-based tests.
Gunimaladevi and co-workers have developed an experimental procedure called loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) which they describe in the latest issue of the Journal of Fish Diseases.
LAMP amplifies the tiny quantities of viral DNA with high specificity and works very quickly under isothermal (constant temperature) conditions.
The workers claim that their protocol for detecting KHV with LAMP, which uses markers from the thymidine kinase (tk) gene of KHV, has similar limits to detection protocols utilising the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
For more details see the paper: Gunimaladevi I, Kono T, Venugopal MN, Sakai M. (2004) - Detection of koi herpesvirus in common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., by loop-mediated isothermal amplification. J Fish Dis. 2004 Oct;27(10):583-9.