Enhanced detection of respiratory syncytial virus by shell vial in children hospitalised with respiratory illnesses in Northern Jordan

Abstract

During the period between November 1997 and May 1998, a total of 350 nasopharyngeal aspirates were obtained from children admitted to the Respiratory Disease Unit at Princess Rahma Hospital, northern Jordan, and diagnosed clinically as suffering from respiratory tract infections. Nasopharyngeal aspirates were investigated for the presence of respiratory syncycial virus (RSV) by using shell vial (SV) culture assay, conventional culture assay, and direct immunofluorescence assay. Out of 350 nasopharyngeal aspirates, 101(28.9%) were found positive by any of SV, conventional culture, and immunofluorescence; 91 (90.1%) by SV, 87(86.1%) by culture, and 83(82.2%) by immunofluorescence. The maximum number of virus isolations was noted in children below the age of 1 year and was associated with bronchiolitis. SV assay showed the highest sensitivity (94.3%) and specificity (96.9%) for detecting RSV from nasopharyngeal aspirates. These results emphasise the importance of SV culture assay for diagnosis of RSV, although immunofluorescence is a valuable, rapid diagnostic assay.

Burden of respiratory syncytial virus in hospitalized infants and young children in Amman, Jordan

“…Fully 89.4% of the hospitalized Jordanian infants in this study were <1 y of age and 1 of 4 children had an underlying medical condition. The median age of 3.6 months in our cohort is consistent with other studies worldwide documenting RSV hospitalization in young infants [8,21,22]. In the USA, 66% of the children hospitalized with RSV at 3 major hospitals were young, previously healthy children [23].…”

Natural history and epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus infection in the Middle East: Hospital surveillance for children under age two in Jordan

“…In our 2010-2013 surveillance window, RSV was a major cause of ARI hospitalizations in Jordanian children <2 years, with consistent annual peaks in January and February. Our study represents one of the largest cohort studies of RSV-infected hospitalized children, including within the Middle East [10][11][12][13][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. RSV is well-recognized cause of ARI globally [2], but even comprehensive reports typically fail to include information from the Middle East region due to lack of published data.…”

Viral respiratory infection in Curitiba, Southern Brazil

“…The results obtained here were similar to those observed in other countries, and supports the hypothesis that viruses are the most frequent pathogen involved in respiratory diseases in children and immunocompromised patients worldwide. 4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]17,19 RSV is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients and consistently represents one of the leading two causes of respiratory viral infections in this population. 7 According to the results obtained in our study, the same situation was observed in BMT and also in paediatric patients, especially children from ICU.…”

“…The samples were processed within 4 h after collection to investigate the presence of RSV, FLUA, FLUB, ADENO, and PIV by IFA 5,7,23 and SV (Shell Vial Culture). 11,12,15,17 Detection of viruses in cells shed by the respiratory tract or from inoculated lineages harvested from cell culture tubes was performed by IF as previously described, 4,6,19 using commercially available monoclonal antibodies (Chemicon International Inc., Temecula, CA).…”