Specimen Collection

A dedicated specimen (i.e. no other tests to be performed) is required for this assay.

Do not use heparin tubes

Throat swab, stool, blister fluid: - please consult Virologist.

5 mL PPT Whole Blood (Preferred)

Collect during acute phase.

Do not freeze unseparated PPT tubes . If the specimen requires freezing, the supernatant must be removed from the gel first.

4 mL EDTA Whole Blood

500 uL Micro-EDTA Plasma

500uL of whole blood is the absolute minimum volume required

Turnaround Time: Between 3 days and 5 days
Assay Method

PCR

Diagnostic Use and Interpretation

Enteroviruses are small single stranded RNA viruses. There are more than 70 serotypes,

recently redistributed to five species of human enteroviruses (HEV). HEV-A, B, C, and D and poliovirus.

Human enterovirus A CAV2 to CAV8, CAV10, 12, 14, 16 and EV71)

Human enterovirus B (CAV 9,CBV1 to 6,E1 to E7,E9,E11 to EE21,E24 to E27, E29 to E33, EV 69, and EV73

Human enterovirus C (CAV1, 11, 13, 15, CAV22 to CAV24)

Human enterovirus D EV 68 and EV 70

Polio virus (PV1-3)

Enteroviruses cause a wide spectrum of clinical syndromes ranging from asymptomatic infection or mild febrile illness to severe and potentially fatal syndromes including paralysis, aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, myocarditis, neonatal systemic infection. Enteroviruses are the most common cause of aseptic meningitis in both children and adults, accounting for 70-90% of all cases in which a causative agent is identified .

Real time enterovirus PCR is useful for rapid detection of enterovirus in CSF, tissues and serum and has replaced culture.

This assay described is an in-house PCR, primers and probe sequences are designed to amplify and detect 148 bp from a highly conserved region in the 5'-non coding region of the EV genome.

References

1) Rotbart HA. Enteroviral infections of the central nervous system. Clin Infect Dis 1995; 20:971-81

2) Sawyer MH. Enterovirus infections: diagnosis and treatment. Curr Opin Pediatr 2001; 13:65-9

3) Verstrepen WA, Bruynseels P, Mertens AH. Evaluation of a rapid real time RT-PCR assay for detection of enterovirus RNA in cerebrospinal fluid specimens. J Clin Virol 2002; 25S:39-43

Contact Information

For further information contact the laboratory (contact via Lablink: 22000 or (09) 307-8995 or 0800 522 7587) ,or:
the Virology team virology@adhb.govt.nz

Specimen Transport Instructions for Referring Laboratories

Blood samples:- do not separate

Last updated at 16:44:10 17/06/2022