Identification of coxsackie B viruses and enteroviruses in general using nucleic acid hybridization

Nucleic acid hybridization data are presented showing that hybridization probes can be devised from either empirical data or from comparison of published nucleotide sequences. Hybridization probes specific only for CVB3 strains and CVB4 strains have been devised, which should enable probing of biopsied myocardial tissue for these specific viral RNA sequences. Oligonucleotides based upon published sequence data are presented, which should be able to function as highly sensitive probes, perhaps even distinguishing virulent from avirulent strains of a specific enterovirus.