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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 03 1997, 691-696, Vol 35, No. 3
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Aseptic meningitis and encephalitis: the role of PCR in the diagnostic laboratory [published erratum appears in J Clin Microbiol 1997 Jun;35(6):1649]

SJ Read, KJ Jeffery and CR Bangham
Oxford Public Health Laboratory, John Radcliffe Hospital, United Kingdom.

In this study we have devised a simple and robust PCR strategy to detect a wide range of viruses, bacteria, and parasites, all of which are capable of causing aseptic meningitis and encephalitis. The techniques developed have been used in a routine diagnostic virology laboratory to test prospectively 2,233 cerebrospinal fluid specimens. A virus was detected in 147 specimens of cerebrospinal fluid from 143 patients. Four sets of primers were sufficient to detect the virus in 135 (94%) of the PCR-positive patients. We conclude that with appropriate primers, PCR can be systematically and economically applied to test for a range of organisms in a routine diagnostic laboratory. In our opinion, PCR will soon become the "gold standard" test for viral infections of the central nervous system.

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