Lambert Stephen B, Allen Kelly M, Nolan Terence M
Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Vaccine. 2008 Mar 28;26(15):1826-31. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2008.01.055. Epub 2008 Feb 22.
Population-based respiratory research and vaccine efficacy studies have previously required clinic or home visits when a subject had an acute respiratory illness. This method may mean parents are unwilling to enroll their child or report an illness of interest. We conducted a community-based cohort study into respiratory illnesses in 234 pre-school aged children using parent-collected specimens. Between January 2003 and January 2004 there were 563 specimens collected from 730 identified illnesses and these were tested using a panel of respiratory virus polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays; 409 (73%) were positive for any virus. Specimens were not more likely to be positive when collected by a healthcare worker parent, when they included a throat swab, or when a very good collection technique was reported. A delay from illness onset to specimen collection of up to 5 days did not appear to impact on sensitivity of virus identification, but a delay of six or more days with minor delays in testing saw positivity fall. Combined with daily symptom diary completion and PCR testing, parent-collected specimens are an efficient and acceptable method for the conduct of future vaccine efficacy studies and other community-based respiratory virus research.
以往基于人群的呼吸道研究和疫苗效力研究，在受试者患急性呼吸道疾病时，都需要进行门诊或家访。这种方法可能意味着家长不愿意让孩子参与研究或报告感兴趣的疾病。我们对234名学龄前儿童进行了一项基于社区的呼吸道疾病队列研究，使用家长采集的样本。在2003年1月至2004年1月期间，从730例确诊疾病中采集了563份样本，并使用一组呼吸道病毒聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测方法进行检测；409份（73%）样本检测出任何病毒呈阳性。当样本由医护人员家长采集、包含咽拭子或报告采用了非常好的采集技术时，样本呈阳性的可能性并没有更高。从发病到样本采集延迟长达5天似乎并未影响病毒识别的敏感性，但延迟6天或更长时间且检测稍有延迟时，阳性率会下降。结合每日症状日记填写和PCR检测，家长采集的样本是未来进行疫苗效力研究和其他基于社区的呼吸道病毒研究的一种有效且可接受的方法。
