Evaluation of a protocol for rapid diagnosis of enterovirus associated with acute flaccid paralysis cases
Received 23 April 2009; received in revised form 7 September 2009; accepted 9 September 2009. published online 27 September 2009.
Abstract
Background
The virological surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a critical component of the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to eradicate poliomyelitis worldwide. Furthermore rapid methods are needed either to detect or rule out the presence of polioviruses during the late stages of eradication, especially in polio-free areas.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate a fast protocol combining one passage (5 days) in cell culture followed by RT-PCR and molecular typing in order to detect and type poliovirus (PV) and other enteroviruses associated with AFP cases.
Study design
A total of 216 fecal suspensions from AFP suspected cases were tested by using this approach and compared with the WHO gold standard.
Results
Using the WHO protocol enterovirus was detected in 12 out of the 216 AFP samples (5.55%) while with the proposed protocol enterovirus was detected in 15 out of the 216 AFP samples (6.94%). The additional positive samples detected by the proposed method were classified as non-polio enteroviruses (NPEV).
Conclusions
The proposed protocol showed higher sensitivity than the WHO gold standard, reducing the entire process of identification and typing of the isolates from the typically 14–21 days to only ∼6–8 days.
ABSTRACT