In-house developed light cycler real time polymerase chain reaction for rapid detection of respiratory syncytial virus at University Kebangsaan Medical Centre, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Respiratory syncytial virus [RSV] is a major cause of respiratory illness in young children worldwide. Its detection by viral culture and immunofluorescent assay is time consuming and has low sensitivity. The objective of the study was to develop In House Light Cycler Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction for Rapid Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus. In house developed Light Cycler Real-Time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction [LC-RT-PCR] assay was standardized using designed primers for the rapid identification of clinical samples of RSV. A total of 130 samples [throat swab and nasopharyngeal aspirate] obtained from University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, were efficiently tested and of which 54 [42%] were RSV positive. This study indicated that this newly developed in house rRT-PCR assay proved to be an excellent method for the rapid detection of RSV.