Abstract
Rapid laboratory diagnosis of ocular adenovirus infection is crucial in the containment of nosocomial transmission of the virus. In a large prospective study of adenovirus assay in eye swabs, antigen detection by radioimmune dot-blot (turnaround time 72 hours) achieved a sensitivity of 67% (239/355) and a specificity of 93% (3065/3285) in comparison with virus culture (median turnaround time 14 days). When specimens weakly reactive for adenovirus antigen, or equally reactive for both adenovirus antigen and Chlamydia trachomatis antigen, were considered falsely reactive in the adenovirus test, the sensitivity of the latter was reduced and false positive reactions were only marginally less frequent. The radioimmune dot-blot provides a more rapid diagnosis of ocular adenovirus infection than virus culture, but the high risk of false negative and in particular false positive results limits its clinical utility.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Wadell G . Adenoviruses. In: Zuckerman AJ, Banatvala JE, Pattison JR, editors. Principles and practice of clinical virology. Chichester: Wiley, 1987:251–74.
Keenlyside RA, Hierholzer JC, D'Angelo LJ . Keratoconjunctivitis associated with adenovirus type 37: an extended outbreak in an ophthalmologist's office. J Infect Dis 1983;147:191–8.
Wiley L, Springer D, Kowalski RP, Arffa R, Roat MI, Thoft RA, Gordon VJ . Rapid diagnostic tests for ocular adenovirus. Ophthalmology 1988;95:431–3.
Kowalski RP, Gordon VJ . Comparison of direct rapid tests for the detection of adenovirus antigen in routine conjunctival specimens. Ophthalmology 1989;96:1106–8.
Killough R, Klapper PE, Bailey AS, Sharp IR, Tullo A, Richmond SJ . An immune dot-blot technique for the diagnosis of ocular adenovirus infection. J Virol Methods 1990;30:197–204.
Sharp IR, Bailey AS . Development of a diagnostic reagent for the detection of adenovirus antigen by immunofluorescence. Analyt Proc R Soc Chem 1988;25:129–31.
Storey CC, Mearns G, Richmond SJ . Immune dot-blot technique for diagnosing infection with Chlamydia trachomatis. Genitourin Med 1987;63:375–9.
Mearns G, Richmond SJ, Storey CC . Sensitive immune dot-blot test for diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis infection. J Clin Microbiol 1988;26:1810–3.
Ankers HE, Klapper PE, Cleator GM, Bailey AS, Tullo AB . The role of a rapid diagnostic test (adenovirus immune dot-blot) in the control of an outbreak of adenovirus type 8 keratoconjunctivitis. Eye 1993;7 (Suppl):15–7.
Turner PC, Bailey AS, Cooper RJ, Morris DJ . The polymerase chain reaction for detecting adenovirus DNA in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue obtained post-mortem. J Infect 1993;27:43–6.
Bishop PN, Tullo AB, Killough R, Richmond SJ . An immune dot-blot test for the diagnosis of ocular infection with Chlamydia trachomatis. Eye 1991;5:305–8.
Cremer NE, Riggs RL . Immunoglobulin classes and viral diagnosis. In: Lennette EH, Schmidt NJ, editors. Diagnostic procedures for viral, rickettsial and chlamydial infections. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 1979:191–208.
Morris DJ, Bailey AS, Cooper RJ, Turner PC, Jackson R, Corbitt G, Tullo AB . Polymerase chain reaction for detection of ocular adenovirus infection. J Med Virol, in press.
Kinchington PR, Turse SE, Kowalski RP, Gordon VJ . Use of polymerase chain amplification reaction for the detection of adenoviruses in ocular swab specimens. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1994;35:4126–34.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morris, D., Klapper, P., Killough, R. et al. Prospective study of adenovirus antigen detection in eye swabs by radioimmune dot-blot. Eye 9, 629–632 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1995.152
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.1995.152
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Epidemic kerato-conjunctivitis—do outbreaks have to be epidemic?
Eye (2003)
-
Letter
Eye (1997)