VIRUS INVOLVEMENT IN COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED DIARRHEA EXAMINED BY STOOL DOT-BLOT HYBRIDIZATION AND ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY

Objective: To determine the value of a newly developed dot-blot hybrid ization assay for the detection of stool viruses in patients with susp ected infective diarrhoea. Design: Seven hundred and twenty-seven pati ents with diarrhoea acquired in the community were surveyed and after exclusion of bacterial pathogens, stools were examined by electron mic roscopy and dot-blot hybridization for the presence of viruses. Result s: Astrovirus and adenovirus types 40 and 41 were found in 1.1 and 1.5 %, respectively, of stools examined by dot-blot assay. No definitive d iagnosis of astrovirus or Norwalk virus could be made by electron micr oscopy and fewer adenoviruses were detected, although it provided the only means of detecting rotaviruses. Conclusion: When the results of d ot-blot hybridization and electron microscopy were combined, viruses w ere implicated in 10% of all stool samples analysed.