A. Vabret et al., Direct diagnosis of human respiratory coronaviruses 229E and OC43 by the polymerase chain reaction, J VIROL MET, 97(1-2), 2001, pp. 59-66
An RT-PCR-hybridization was developed that amplified genetic material from
the M protein gene of HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43. The analytic sensitivity of
these original primers were compared with primers defined in the N gene and
described previously. The results show that 0.05 TCID50 of HCoV-229E and 0
.01 TCID50 of HCoV-OC43 can be detected by this molecular method using the
original method, Detection of HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 in clinical specimens
is possible using this method: 348 respiratory specimens (202 sputum and 1
46 nasal aspirates) were tested with this RT-PCR-hybridization and 12 human
coronavirus are detected (3%). The method could provide a useful tool for
demonstrating the role of human coronavirus in infections of the respirator
y tract. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.