Abstract
This chapter discusses the techniques used for the detection of viral nucleic acids in clinical material. Viral nucleic acids can be detected in a wide range of clinical specimens using a variety of hybridization and amplification techniques. Blood, urine, bronchoalveolar lavage, and other body fluids are tested by filter paper hybridization with viral probes after extraction and purification of nucleic acids. Clinical specimens are examined for specific viral nucleic acids using amplification techniques, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ligase chain reaction, or other methods. Amplification techniques are particularly well suited for the detection of non-cultivable viruses, and PCR, in particular, has been a godsend to clinical laboratories working on Hepatitis C virus, Parvovirus B19, and more recently Hantavirus. PCR amplification, together with gene sequencing, has facilitated virus strain typing or genotyping, and, in the case of Hepatitis C virus, has led to the identification of six major genotypes and up to 12 subtypes.
Published Version
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