Acute, chronic and persistent enterovirus and poliovirus infections: detection of viral genome by seminested PCR amplification in culture-negative samples.

Enteroviral and polioviral infections are potentially serious in humans causing a variety of acute, chronic and probably persistent infections. A seminested polymerase chain reaction is described which allows the detection of 1 fg of enterovirus and poliovirus RNA by using specific primers located both in the 5' non-coding and the VPI region. The technique is applied in a variety of important clinical situations: meningitis and encephalitis cases occurring in immunocompetent or immunocompromised patients; acute cardiomyopathies; poliovirus induced pathologies. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of PCR in diagnosing enteroviral infections during culture-negative intervals in acute and/or persistent infections. Our PCR test will be a valuable tool in determining the predictive value of the presence of the viral genome in the aggravation of chronic and persistent enterovirus-induced pathologies.