Laboratory Detection of Respiratory Viruses by Automated Techniques

Pérez-Ruiz, Mercedes; Pedrosa-Corral, Irene; Sanbonmatsu-Gámez, Sara; Navarro-Marí, José-María

Although viral culture may represent an open system for detecting multiple viral pathogens, there is no single cell line that allows the growth of all RV, and there is no RV that may grow in any cell line. Thus, to detect the most prevalent RV, multiple cell lines must be used. The combination of shell-vial assay with the inclusion of different cell lines in the same vial has represented a subsequent step that has facilitated the recovery of RV isolates from cell cultures [19] [20] [21] . NAAT have recently contributed to increase the sensitivity of viral culture. PCR assays can be carried out on the cell culture supernatant to detect the isolates. This approach has demonstrated the highest sensitive reading procedure, and has allowed identifying viral isolates in cell monolayers with no cytopathic effect [22] . However, viral culture is not useful for detection of new RV, since they do not grow or grow poorly in cell culture. For this purpose, the best alternative is NAAT.