Abstract
Background: Enteroviruses cause a substantial number of cases of aseptic meningitis annually in the USA. While culture has been useful in the detection of patients with viral meningitis it is time-consuming and lacks sensitivity. Detection of viral nucleic acid in patient specimens has been demonstrated to improve enteroviral detection. Objectives: A research use only commercial amplification assay, the Roche AMPLICOR EV test, was compared to culture for the diagnosis of enteroviral meningoencephalitis. Study Design: Four-hundred and sixty-five consecutive CSF samples sent prospectively for suspicion of enteroviral infection were evaluated by PCR and shell-vial culture. Clinical information and CSF analysis were used to resolve PCR positive, culture negative samples. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated using resolved data. Results: There were 138 samples which met the definition of a true positive. Of these culture detected 77 (sensitivity 55.8%) and PCR detected 136 (sensitivity 98.6%). PCR missed two culture positive samples. Upon repeat testing, these CSF samples were found to contain inhibitors. Conclusions: The Roche AMPLICOR EV-PCR test was statistically more sensitive than culture (P<0.001) in the detection of enteroviruses in CSF in patients suspected of having enteroviral meningitis. This assay also has the advantage of a rapid turnaround time of 5-6 h compared to 3-5 days for culture. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 149-156 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Virology |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2000 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Enteroviruses
- Meningoencephalitis
- Polymerase chain reaction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Virology
- Infectious Diseases