Detecting the presence of infectious hepatitis A virus in molluscs positive to RT-nested-PCR.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to determine the presence of infectious hepatitis A virus (HAV) in molluscs naturally contaminated with viral HAV-RNA.


RESULTS
One hundred and forty-two mollusc samples were analysed for the presence of viral HAV-RNA using RT-nested-PCR; positive samples were then analysed with an integrated method, cell-culture RT-PCR, to detect infectious virus. Viral HAV-RNA was detected in 34.5% of the samples while 12.7% of the total samples were positive for the presence of infectious virus.


CONCLUSIONS
The results demonstrate the validity of the screening method (RT-nested-PCR) and the necessity of applying a method that is capable of detecting the presence of infectious HAV.


CONCLUSIONS
The study demonstrates that in any case, to determine the safety for human consumption, the results of RT-nested-PCR must be confirmed with an integrated cell-culture PCR method.
De Medici
D
D
Laboratorio Alimenti, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. dario.demedici@iss.it
Croci
L
L
Di Pasquale
S
S
Fiore
A
A
Toti
L
L
D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000821:virology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D005511:Food Handling; D005516:Food Microbiology; D030041:Hepatitis A virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000592:standards; D018401:Sample Size; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D012367:RNA, Viral