Abstract
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in detecting rotaviral gastroenteritis in children comparing with that of commercial immunoassays.
METHODS
Stools from 79 children admitted Korea University Hospital due to diarrhea were collected from December 1999 to February 2000. Immunoassays were done using commercial rotavirus Latex kit and Rotatec (ELISA) kit. RT-PCR was performed to amplify group A rotavirus, most commonly pathogenic to human, using VP4- and VP7-specific primers. The detection rates of immunoassays and RT-PCR were compared.