Use of a heminested reverse transcriptase PCR assay for detection of astrovirus in environmental swabs from an outbreak of gastroenteritis in a pediatric primary immunodeficiency unit.

ABSTRACT: An outbreak of astrovirus gastroenteritis occurred in the Primary Immunodeficiency Unit at Newcastle General Hospital in March 2004. Environmental swabbing of the unit was undertaken after the outbreak, with multiple sites swabbed pre- and postcleaning. Astroviruses were detected in four environmental swabs and from two patient fecal samples using heminested reverse transcriptase PCR. An astrovirus genotype 3 strain was identified in both environmental swabs and fecal specimens and was the strain identified as being responsible for the outbreak. Environmental transmission of the virus was thought to have occurred by contamination of a syringe pump outside the laminar-flow curtain of a patient who was admitted with astrovirus gastroenteritis. This was subsequently transmitted to a cubicle n

SUBMITTER: Gallimore CI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1234003 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature