Cell‐culture‐based immunochromatography for rapid detection of group A human rotaviruses in aquatic environments

Abstract

In an effort to detect rapidly and conveniently the infectious waterborne group A human rotaviruses that cause diarrhea in infants and children, the authors developed the first‐ever cell‐culture‐based immunochromatography method. An immunochromatography kit interacted only with the human rotaviruses VP6 antigen, and the cell‐culture‐based immunochromatography detected group A human rotaviruses with a sensitivity as low as 1.99 TCID50 ml−1. This detection sensitivity was similar to that of the cytopathic effect‐based method. There were no actual differences between the sensitivity of this method and that of the real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method, which is known as a method with a relatively high sensitivity. Furthermore, while cell culture detection methods, that is total culturable virus assay, can determine only the presence of infectious waterborne viruses, the cell‐culture‐based immunochromatography is advantageous for the accurate detection of group A human rotaviruses. Compared with the real‐time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction method, the cell‐culture‐based immunochromatography is advantageous because it requires a relatively simple process that enables easy quality controls and low test costs. Thus, this study proposed a new method for the identification of group A human rotaviruses, and it is suggested that this cell‐culture‐based immunochromatography may be applied to detect group A human rotaviruses in aquatic environments.