title: Poor performance characteristics of conventional PCR in detection of respiratory syncytial virus-experience of a tertiary care centre in Southern India.
abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant cause of contagious acute respiratory infections in children and older adults. Since there are contradictory reports regarding the efficacy of different methods to detect RSV, we evaluated the performance of the conventional PCR versus real-time PCR in 222 patients with acute respiratory infections (ARI) recruited between January 2012 and March 2013. Conventional PCR had a very poor sensitivity of 40% (95% CI: 19.2-63.9%) and failed to detect RSV in respiratory samples with low viral load. Thus, it may be prudent to replace it with real-time PCR to achieve precise diagnosis.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Nandhini
authors: Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry - 605 006, India.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Sujatha
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Jain
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Dhodapkar
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Kadhiravan
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Krishnamurthy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D012136:Respiratory Syncytial Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers