Ha. Cubie et al., DETECTION OF RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS NUCLEIC-ACID IN ARCHIVAL POSTMORTEM TISSUE FROM INFANTS, PEDIATRIC PATHOLOGY & LABORATORY MEDICINE, 17(6), 1997, pp. 927-938
Archival lung tissue from 99 cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SI
DS) and from 58 matched comparison cases with known causes of death wa
s studied. Sections were examined by in situ hybridization (ISH) using
a cocktail of three synthetic oligonucleotides with sequences chosen
from the published sequence of the nucleoprotein gene of respiratory s
yncytial virus (RS virus). The oligonucleotides were end-labelled with
dinitrophenyl (DNP) or digoxigenin (DIG) and hybrids were detected im
munocytochemically. RS virus nucleic acid was detected in 24 cases of
SIDS (24%) and in 11 (19%) of the comparison group. Specificity was co
nfirmed using a DIG-labeled cloned probe covering the whole of the nuc
leoprotein gene sequence. With one exception, th same results were obt
ained. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was us
ed to confirm the specificity of these results. When matched for age a
nd month and year of death, 76 SIDS cases and 38 controls could be com
pared. Twenty-one SIDS cases (27.6%) and seven comparison cases (18.4%
) contained detectable RS virus sequences by ISH, with a higher detect
ion rate in winter in both groups. The differences were not significan
t and reflected the seasonal pattern of RS virus infection in the comm
unity rather than a causal relationship of RS virus with SIDS. Detecti
on of RS viral mRNA through the summer months suggests that persistenc
e is possible.