Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Jan 1996, 140-143, Vol 34, No. 1
LL Gilbert, A Dakhama, BM Bone, EE Thomas and RG Hegele
Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) is a sensitive method for detection of
RNA virus nucleic acid sequences in clinical respiratory specimens.
Previous studies have focused on RT-PCR for a single virus, but this
approach is limited by the inability to establish a specific etiology when
the RT-PCR result is negative and by the inability to document simultaneous
infections involving more than one virus. The purpose of this study was to
apply a panel of RT-PCR protocols for respiratory syncytial virus,
parainfluenza virus, and picornaviruses to respiratory specimens from 80
children suspected to have acute viral respiratory tract infections and to
correlate RT-PCR results with viral culture results and clinical diagnosis.
In comparison with viral culture, the RT-PCR panel had a sensitivity of
over 94% and showed evidence of simultaneous infections in a significantly
greater proportion of specimens (20.0% versus 3.8%; P < 0.002). For
specimens in which no viruses were detected by culture, the proportion of
specimens with positive picornavirus RT-PCR results was significantly
greater than the proportion of specimens with positive respiratory
syncytial virus or parainfluenza virus RT-PCR results (P < 0.001). There
were no statistically significant associations between RT-PCR results and
clinical diagnosis. In summary, the RT-PCR panel provides an improved
approach to obtain new insights into acute viral respiratory tract
infections in children.
Copyright © 1996 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Diagnosis of viral respiratory tract infections in children by using a reverse transcription-PCR panel
University of British Columbia Pulmonary Research Laboratory, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»