Using multiplex rt- pcr technique to detect six different respiratory viruses in clinical specimens from patients attending boo-ali and emam ali hospital with acute respiratory infection symptoms

Narges Arbabi,1,* Maliheh metanat,2 Mostafa heydari,3

1. Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Resistant Tuberculosis Institute, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
2. Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Resistant Tuberculosis Institute, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran
3. Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Resistant Tuberculosis Institute, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction

Respiratory viruses are one of the major causes of acute respiratory infection syndromes (aris) and one of the main causes of hospitalization and mortality among different age groups world widely. children at younger ages experiencing three to eight episodes of acute respiratory infections (ari) yearly. in a given study we tried to screen the occurrence of some of the new emerging respiratory viruses including respiratory syncytial virus type a and b (rsv-a and rsv-b), human parainfluenza virus type 1, 2, and 3(hpiv-1, hpiv-2 and hpiv-3) and human metapneumovirus (hmpv) among patients with ari symptoms.

Methods

We conduct a cross-sectional study from 2013 to 2015 during which we screened an around 244 clinical samples, belonging to patients with ari symptoms. the samples were collected from two different hospitals in zahedan district (booali and emam ali hospital) and sent to dept. of infectious diseases and tropical medicine research center for further analysis. patients who entered in this study have presented a multiple symptoms of respiratory infection symptoms including fever, sore throat, dyspnea, rhinorrhea, chills, cough, etc. 150 to 200 µl of each sample was used for rna extraction and multiplex rt-pcr was followed the extraction as per standardized protocol developed elsewhere. 11 finally the pcr product were loaded on 2% agarose gel contained ethidium bromide and results observed under gel documentation apparatus.

Results

This study perhaps was the first of its kind in zahedan city. clinical specimens form 244 patients with acute respiratory symptoms were used in this study. over all 19 samples were detected to be positive in both the groups. hpiv-3 by 12 incidences was the most frequently detected virus followed by rsv-a and rsv-b by 4 and 3 incidences.

Conclusion

Our results shows that in the first group (adult and elder ages) there might be other etiological agents responsible for acute respiratory symptoms rather than viruses discussed in this study. at the same time, in the second group (children), our result shows that unlike the public assumption, there are other respiratory viruses rather than influenza virus, responsible for most of the respiratory illnesses in seasons like spring and summer.

Keywords

Parainfluenza virus type 1, 2, and 3, respiratory syncytial virus type a and b, human metapneumoviru