Identification of human picornaviruses by nucleic acid probes.

Human picornaviruses include rhinoviruses and enteroviruses which are responsible for both common and severe clinical diseases. Rhinoviruses are a frequent cause of respiratory infections while members of enterovirus subgroups, polio, coxsackie and ECHO viruses are often responsible for infections of the central nervous system, myocarditis, myositis etc. Human picornaviruses consist of nearly two hundred serotypes and therefore their specific identification after virus isolation, or the diagnosis based on the detection of immune response in patients, is problematic and does not usually provide virological diagnosis at the acute phase of illness. New methods for detection of picornavirus genomic RNA together with increasing knowledge of the nucleotide sequences of this virus group offer interesting possibilities for diagnostic procedures. Spot hybridization, in situ hybridization and enzymatic amplification of specific sequences have successfully been used for this purpose. Probes covering the 5' non-coding part of the genome, and also sequences derived from the region coding for non-structural proteins, can be used as broadly reacting reagents in picornavirus detection. Specific sequences are mainly found in the capsid protein region of the genome. cDNA probes and synthetic oligonucleotides are useful in rapid identification of picornaviruses after amplification in cell cultures and in epidemiological analysis. The biochemical amplification methods may enable recognition of picornaviruses directly in clinical samples in the near future. In situ hybridization methods have been of special interest because they can be used to reveal the presence of enterovirus genomes in biopsy specimens from e.g. affected heart muscle in patients with myocarditis and cardiomyopathy.