ABSTRACT
Aseptic meningitis and encephalitis contribute to acute and chronic neurological disorders throughout the world and have a greater than 5% fatality rate in the United States. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases, no causative organism is isolated using conventional molecular and immunologic assays. This is in part due to assays that require prior knowledge of specific virus(es), need for large sample volumes, and significant time to obtain results which precludes usage in the clinical setting. To address these limitations to effectively detect virus in CSF samples, we aimed to use a novel technology called VIRRION (virus capture with rapid Raman spectroscopy detection and identification). VIRRION is a combined microfluidic device and carbon nanotube array for enrichment and capture of virus particles in body fluids that uses Raman spectroscopy for rapid detection of virus in which machine learning algorithms are applied to spectra to develop virus 'signatures'. While VIRRION has been successfully used for respiratory isolates, including SARS-COV-2, here we propose to extend this system for the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid from patients with neurologic disease in which viruses are suspected. In preliminary results with samples containing viruses in culture media, we have demonstrated Raman spectral peaks specific to each cultured virus where machine learning analysis showed a sensitivity of 99%. VIRRION offers the capability to capture virus particles while allowing the background fluids to flow through, thus controlling for variation in the background fluid signatures in clinical samples. These early results show that VIRRION is a promising technology for the rapid detection of virus in the CSF.