Title: Latex Agglutination Assay- A Rapid Test to Diagnose Rotavirus Infection
Authors: Archana Sharma, Akansha Rana
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i4.172
Abstract
Introduction: Diarrhea is one of the most important cause of childhood morbidity. Rotavirus is the commonest cause of viral diarrhea in children. Its symptoms vary from mild to severe diarrhea that results in dehydration. Rotavirus infection can be diagnosed by several methods like culture, electron microscopy, ELISA, latex agglutination etc. Commonly used test in laboratory is ELISA which is more time consuming than latex agglutination test. So we have used latex agglutination kit to detect the prevalence of rotavirus infection in children in Davangere.
Aim and Objective: To detect the presence of rotavirus in stool sample in pediatric age group using latex agglutination test and to know the prevalence of rotavirus infection in children in Davangere.
Materials and methods – One hundred stool samples were collected from inpatient children aged between six months to five years during the period from June 2010 to June 2011 admitted to Bapuji hospital and Chigateri government hospital, Davangere. Rotavirus antigen was detected by commercial latex agglutination kit, Plasmatec.
Result: Out of 100 samples, rotavirus antigen was detected in 21 samples by latex agglutination test. Total numbers of rotavirus positive male and female children were 13 and 8, respectively, showing a male preponderance. Seventeen children were tested positive for rotavirus antigen during winter (October to February). Maximum cases were seen in the age group of 6 months to 2 years (20) which was statistically significant.
Conclusion: our study showed a prevalence rate of 21%, which is quite high. Latex agglutination test could detect presence of rotavirus in less than one hour compared to ELISA which takes around 3-4hrs. It does not require specialized equipments. Latex agglutination test can be done easily, even in primary health care centers. It helps in quick diagnosis of rotavirus infection which indeed helps in preventing the spread of infection to other children as rotavirus is highly infectious even in low doses.
Keywords: diarrhea, rotavirus, latex agglutination assay, prevalence, ELISA.