RAPID VERTICAL AGAROSE - SILVER STAIN DETECTION OF ROTAVIRUS

Human rotaviruses (HRV) are the most important etiologic agents of acq uired diarrhea in infants and young children worldwide, Therefore, the early diagnosis is essential for effective patient management and inf ection control. We have developed a rapid, simple technique for the di agnosis of rotavirus based on the sensitive detection of rotavirus dou ble-stranded RNA genome segments separated in vertical agarose gels an d developed by silver staining (AGE-SS), This method also has the abil ity to detect differences in the electrophoretic mobility of RNA bands among group C rotaviruses, reovirus, and group A rotaviruses, The res ults indicate that this assay is as sensitive and specific as the poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver stain method (PAGE/SS) and i t could be applied on large scale for the screening of stool suspected of rotaviral diarrhea. This assay does not need sophisticated equipme nt and the cost per sample is minimal compared with other available as says.