Positive Diagnosis
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A cheaper, faster and more reliable test for two severe yet common childhood viral diseases has been developed.
The real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction test slashes diagnostic times from days to a matter of hours and promises to revolutionise worldwide laboratory procedures.
Senior researcher with UQ's Clinical Medical Virology Centre based in the Royal Children's Hospital, Dr Ian Mackay, developed the test in response to outbreaks
of human enteroviruses and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) infections in Melbourne and Perth in 1986 and 1999 respectively, and in Queensland during 2001.
Enterovirus 71 can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, encephalitis, aseptic meningitis and paralysis in children. hMPV causes serious respiratory tract disease in children and adults and until Dr Mackay's test, it was estimated 40 percent of cases went undetected because of the limitations of conventional diagnostic testing procedures.
In 78 percent of cases during the 2001 outbreak, children were admitted to hospital for between one and 14 days with 12 cases requiring oxygen therapy.
Dr Mackay's test allows the amplification of tiny amounts of DNA up to a billion-fold to enable easy detection and subsequent molecular manipulation.
It also provides a far cheaper alternative to traditional culture methods.
