DETECTION OF NORWALK VIRUS IN THE UK BY THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

We have developed a polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Nor walk virus using the published sequence of the virus RNA dependent RNA polymerase gene and have used this to clone and sequence this region of a virus from a UK outbreak. We have applied this method to a panel of UK Norwalk-like viruses using both Tet-z and Taq DNA polymerases an d found that amplification produces a multiplicity of bands from stool samples. However, in combination with Southern blotting, Taq polymera se amplification detected virus in 13 of a panel of 30 clinical sample s known to contain these viruses and also detected astroviruses in a m ixed infection. Amplification using Tet-z DNA polymerase was less effi cient (6/30) and detected predominantly viruses typed as UK type 2 by solid phase immune electron microscopy.