R L Atmar1, B D Baxter. 1. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. ratmar@fluctr.bcm.tmc.edu
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Influenza virus infections are a major cause of morbidity and the identification of the type or subtype of a clinical isolate has important clinical and epidemiological implications. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the ability of a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to type and subtype clinical human isolates of influenza virus. STUDY DESIGN: Reference strains of influenza A H1N1, A/H3N2, and B viruses and human clinical isolates of influenza virus representing antigenic variants from the last 15 years were evaluated using an RT-PCR assay. RESULTS: Amplicons of 325, 198 and 365 base pairs in length were obtained from RNA extracted from influenza A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B viruses, respectively. All human-derived A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B reference strains and antigenic variants tested were correctly identified. CONCLUSIONS: RT-PCR is an effective alternative to traditional methods for typing and subtyping influenza viruses.
BACKGROUND:Influenzavirus infections are a major cause of morbidity and the identification of the type or subtype of a clinical isolate has important clinical and epidemiological implications. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the ability of a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay to type and subtype clinical human isolates of influenza virus. STUDY DESIGN: Reference strains of influenzaA H1N1, A/H3N2, and B viruses and human clinical isolates of influenza virus representing antigenic variants from the last 15 years were evaluated using an RT-PCR assay. RESULTS: Amplicons of 325, 198 and 365 base pairs in length were obtained from RNA extracted from influenzaA/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B viruses, respectively. All human-derived A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B reference strains and antigenic variants tested were correctly identified. CONCLUSIONS: RT-PCR is an effective alternative to traditional methods for typing and subtyping influenza viruses.
Authors: J David Beckham; Ana Cadena; Jiejian Lin; Pedro A Piedra; W Paul Glezen; Stephen B Greenberg; Robert L Atmar Journal: J Infect Date: 2005-05 Impact factor: 6.072
Authors: Venkata Bandi; Marta Jakubowycz; Carla Kinyon; Edward O Mason; Robert L Atmar; Stephen B Greenberg; Timothy F Murphy Journal: FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol Date: 2003-06-10