Factors affecting the detection of enteroviruses in cerebrospinal fluid with coxsackievirus B3 and poliovirus 1 cDNA probes

Enteroviruses are common pathogens of meningitis and encephalitis, and infections are often difficult to distinguish clinically from bacterial and herpetic infections of the central nervous system. An array of enteroviruses added to cerebrospinal fluid in reconstruction experiments were detected by a dot hybridization assay. Optimal handling and processing conditions for infected cerebrospinal fluid were established, and the effect on the hybridization reaction of humoral and cellular components of the inflammatory response was determined. Six hybridization probes, derived from poliovirus 1 and coxsackievirus B3, were then tested, singly and in combinations, to optimize the sensitivity and spectrum of the assay. Implications for enteroviral taxonomy based on these experiments are discussed.