Saksida Ana, Duh Darja, Lotric-Furlan Stanka, Strle Franc, Petrovec Miroslav, Avsic-Zupanc Tatjana
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Zaloska 4, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
J Clin Virol. 2005 Aug;33(4):331-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2004.07.014.
Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is one of the most important causes of human viral infections of the central nervous system in Europe. Currently, the diagnosis of TBE is based on the demonstration of specific antibodies in patient's serum, which appear only several weeks after the infection.
To determine how successfully can viral RNA be detected by RT-PCR in the samples of body fluids of patients with TBE prior to and after the appearance of antibodies.
Serum, whole blood and CSF samples from 34 patients with a serologically confirmed TBE were collected. Samples were tested for the presence of TBEV RNA by using RT-PCR method.
Viral RNA was detected in all blood and serum samples collected before the development of antibodies. After the appearance of IgM antibodies, the number of positive samples dropped by at least one third. After the development of IgG antibodies, only 3% of serum and 16% of blood samples tested positive for viral RNA. Samples of cerebrospinal fluid were shown to be inappropriate for the molecular diagnosis of TBE using this assay, since only one sample (10%) that was collected in the sero-negative phase of disease was found positive by the PCR assay.
RT-PCR is an efficient method for an early detection of TBEV in blood and serum samples collected prior to the appearance of antibodies. This method can be of valuable use for a differential diagnosis of TBEV infection in patients with febrile illness after a tick bite, particularly in regions where more than one tick-transmitted diseases are endemic.
蜱传脑炎病毒（TBEV）是欧洲人类中枢神经系统病毒感染的最重要病因之一。目前，TBE的诊断基于患者血清中特异性抗体的检测，而这些抗体在感染后数周才会出现。
确定在抗体出现之前和之后，通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）在TBE患者体液样本中检测病毒RNA的成功率。
收集34例血清学确诊为TBE的患者的血清、全血和脑脊液样本。使用RT-PCR方法检测样本中是否存在TBEV RNA。
在抗体出现之前采集的所有血液和血清样本中均检测到病毒RNA。IgM抗体出现后，阳性样本数量至少下降了三分之一。IgG抗体出现后，仅3%的血清样本和16%的血液样本病毒RNA检测呈阳性。脑脊液样本被证明不适用于使用该检测方法进行TBE的分子诊断，因为在疾病的血清阴性阶段采集的样本中，只有一个样本（10%）通过PCR检测呈阳性。
RT-PCR是一种在抗体出现之前采集的血液和血清样本中早期检测TBEV的有效方法。该方法对于蜱叮咬后发热疾病患者的TBEV感染鉴别诊断具有重要价值，尤其是在多种蜱传疾病流行的地区。
