JCM Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Watzinger, F.
Right arrow Articles by Lion, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Watzinger, F.
Right arrow Articles by Lion, T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2004, p. 5189-5198, Vol. 42, No. 11
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.11.5189-5198.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Real-Time Quantitative PCR Assays for Detection and Monitoring of Pathogenic Human Viruses in Immunosuppressed Pediatric Patients

F. Watzinger,1 M. Suda,1 S. Preuner,1 R. Baumgartinger,1 K. Ebner,1 L. Baskova,1 H. G. M. Niesters,2 A. Lawitschka,3 and T. Lion1*

Division of Molecular Microbiology and Development of Genetic Diagnostics, Children's Cancer Research Institute,1 St. Anna Kinderspital, Vienna, Austria,3 Department of Virology, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands2

Received 15 January 2004/ Returned for modification 29 February 2004/ Accepted 1 July 2004

A panel of 23 real-time PCR assays based on TaqMan technology has been developed for the detection and monitoring of 16 different viruses and virus families including human polyomaviruses BK virus and JC virus, human herpesviruses 6, 7, and 8, human adenoviruses, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, varicella-zoster virus, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, parvovirus B19, influenza A and B viruses, parainfluenza viruses 1 to 3, enteroviruses, and respiratory syncytial virus. The test systems presented have a broad dynamic range and display high sensitivity, reproducibility, and specificity. Moreover, the assays allow precise quantification of viral load in a variety of clinical specimens. The ability to use uniform PCR conditions for all assays permits simultaneous processing and detection of many different viruses, thus economizing the diagnostic work. Our observations based on more than 50,000 assays reveal the potential of the real-time PCR tests to facilitate early diagnosis of infection and to monitor the kinetics of viral proliferation and the response to treatment. We demonstrate that, in immunosuppressed patients with invasive virus infections, surveillance by the assays described may permit detection of increasing viral load several days to weeks prior to the onset of clinical symptoms. In virus infections for which specific treatment is available, the quantitative PCR assays presented provide reliable diagnostic tools for timely initiation of appropriate therapy and for rapid assessment of the efficacy of antiviral treatment strategies.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: CCRI, Kinderspitalgasse 6, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. Phone: 0043 1 40470 489. Fax: 0043 1 40470 437. E-mail: thomas.lion{at}ccri.at.


Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2004, p. 5189-5198, Vol. 42, No. 11
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.11.5189-5198.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.




This article has been cited by other articles:




Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. Clin. Microbiol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2004 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.