The enteric adenoviruses of subgroup F (Ad40 and Ad41) pose some special problems of cultivation, as they cannot be readily passaged in many of the cell types used to propagate the more commonly used subgroup C serotypes (Ad2 and Ad5) and there is no standard plaque assay. Methods to propagate Ad40 in com ...

Oncolytic adenoviruses (Ads) are promising candidates for cancer therapy. However, current animal models to evaluate these vectors have substantial limitations. Because Ad replication is generally species-specific, oncolytic Ads are usually examined in immunodeficient ...

A critical step in working with adenovirus (Ad) and its vectors is the accurate, reproducible, sensitive, and rapid measurement of the amount of virus present in a stock. Titration methods fall into one of two categories: determination of either the infectious or the particle (infectious plus n ...

Ribozymes are small catalytic RNAs with the ability to reversibly cleave covalent bonds in RNA in the complete absence of protein (1). With the exception of the RNA component of bacterial RNase P, presently characterized ribozymes catalyze a one-time intramolecular self-cleavage in the ...

Ribozymes are recognized as useful tools for the manipulation of genes because of their high specificity and the fact that they act without influencing the expression of genes that are unrelated targets (1,2). To date, many successful experiments with intracellular ribozymes have been re ...

Hammerhead ribozymes are short catalytic RNA molecules possessing endoribonuclease activity. The enzyme’s specificity is mediated by variable flanking sequences complementary to the RNA target substrate (1,2). Cleavage occurs via transesterification 3′ to a nucleotide tr ...

Influenza A virus infection causes acute respiratory disease in humans and in various animal species, notably pigs, horses, seals, as well as chicken and water fowl. In this study, we present evidence that the multiplication of the RNA virus Influenza A can be inhibited by intracellular express ...

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a retrovirus structurally related to human T-cell leukemia virus-I and -II and simian T-cell leukemia virus. It infects principally B-lymphocytes (1), causing a persistent expansion of B-cells, termed persistent lymphocytosis, in approx 30% of infected ca ...

Lyssavirus infection, better known as rabies, in animals or in humans, is characterized by a clinical picture of viral encephalitis. According to the WHO estimations, it is responsible for more than 50,000 human deaths each year. The diagnosis of lyssavirus infection in animals, which may be res ...

Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) virus infections are common during childhood throughout the world. Measles and mumps viruses belong to the Paramyxoviridae family with an RNA genome of negative polarity and a simrlar overall viral structure at the molecular level (1,2). Rubella virus is a me ...

Parvovirus B 19 was discovered at the Virus Reference Laboratory in 1975 by Cossart and colleagues (1). First found in healthy blood donors, parvovirus B19 infection usually manifests as erythema infectiosum (fifth disease) in children. In adults the infection can cause acute arthritis. T ...

Both epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests sexual activity contributes to the etiology of cervical cancer. Searches for a responsible agent have pointed to an association with human papillomavirus (HPV). These viruses are nonenveloped, approx 55 nm in diameter, con ...

Human enteroviruses include polioviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, and newer enteroviruses designated enteroviruses 68–71. They are classified as one genus of the Picornaviridae; rhinoviruses are a separate genus of the same virus family. All picornaviruses are sma ...

Infants and young children undergoing their primary infection with common human respiratory viruses are at risk of serious, even life-threatening, lower respiratory tract infection, A multiplicity of viruses infect the human respiratory tract but a relatively small number are res ...

Poxviruses are large, double-stranded DNA viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm of infected cells. The family Poxviridae is divided into two subfamilies, the Entomopoxvirinae of insects and the Chordopoxvirinae of vertebrates; the latter consists of eight genera and several unc ...

Rotavirus has been recognized as the major etiological agent of acute gastroenteritis in infants and young children. The rotaviruses contain a genome of 11 segments of double-stranded RNA that can be separated into distinct bands by electrophoresis. The migration pattern of the 11 genome ...

The principle of time-resolved fluorometry and its application to solidphase immunoassays (TR-FIAs) was invented in the 1980s in Turku, Finland at the Wallac Biochemical Laboratory and University of Turku (1,2). One of the early diagnostic applications was the detection of viral antig ...

Sandfly fever Sicilian (SFS) virus (genus Phlebovirus, family Bunyaviridae) is a member of the sandfly fever virus serogroup, which also includes sandfly fever Naples and Toscana viruses. These viruses are transmitted by Phlebotomus sandflies in the Mediterranean and the Middle Eas ...

In 1953, the first adenovirus was isolated from a human and, subsequently, 47 types have been shown to exist. Adenoviruses are now classified into six subgroups (A–F), which are based on their hemagglutination properties (1). They have a icosahedron structure that contains double-stranded l ...

Sensitive immunoassays were developed in the 1950s and 1960s using radioactive isotopes. The application of enzymes as labels (1,2) in the late 1960s increased the potential sensitivity and safety of immunoassays. The widespread popularity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays ...