Detection of adenovirus in patient specimens by indirect immune electron microscopy.

Immune electron microscopic procedures for the detection of adenovirus type 7 directly in throat swab specimens from patients are described. Nineteen of 25 throat swab samples, known to be positive for adenovirus type 7 by isolation of virus from tissue culture, were shown to contain aggregates of adenovirions coated with antibody. Sensitivity tests of the immune electron microscopic method showed that as few as 16 to 32 tissue culture infective doses of virus could be detected by the direct immune electron microscopic technique. It was also demonstrated that aggregation of virus-antibody complexes could be further enhanced by use of anti-immunoglobulin G sera (indirect immune electron microscopic procedures). These results demonstrate that examination of patient specimen by immune electron microscopic procedures is a feasible and rapid method for adenovirus detection and suggest that it could be applied as a routine laboratory procedure for the diagnosis of other virus infections.

Visualization by immune electron microscopy of viruses associated with acute respiratory disease.

A sensitive and rapid method for detecting adenovirus and influenza viruses has been demonstrated by using both the direct and indirect immune electron microscopy technique. The indirect method was from 4 to over 32 times more sensitive than the direct method. The technique appears to have the sensitivity approaching tissue culture methods, but is much more rapid, requires less laboratory support personnel and space, and should lend itself to detection of noncytologic agents. These data suggest a new role for the electron microscope in diagnostic virology.