A study on enterovirus infection in Osaka prefecture --comparison with virus isolation and RT-PCR amplifying viral protein 1 region

Abstract

Detection of viral genomes with RT-PCR, which amplifies viral protein 1 region, as well as virus isolation was performed on 860 patients (996 specimens) who had been suspected for enterovirus (EV) infection in Osaka Prefecture from April 2003 to Jury 2004. The viral positive rates of the clinical materials, combining above two procedures, were as follows: 48.2% from the feces, 38.3% from the throat swabs, and 18.0% from the cerebrospinal fluids. The positive rate by the clinical diagnosis indicated that herpangina was the highest at 44.7%, while encephalitis was the lowest at 13.4%. Out of the all specimens, the viral positive rate of RT-PCR varied from 22.3 to 24.7%, while that of virus isolation was 15.6%. The total viral positive rate of both procedures combined was 29.8%. Since the detection of EV by RT-PCR amplifing viral protein 1 region was more rapid than virus isolation and superior in detection of coxsackie group A virus, RT-PCR is an effective procedure for diagnosis of herpangina.