Research Institute for Plague Control, Stavropol, Russia
The results of the molecular genetic study of 571 blood sera obtained from 319 patients and persons suspected for Crimean hemorrhagic fever (CHF) are presented. On the basis of epidemiological and clinical data, as well as the results of the laboratory study of blood sera, in 54 patients CHF was diagnosed. The use of the methods of the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the confirmation of the diagnosis of CHF was shown to be highly effective. As revealed in this study, the most expedient diagnostic methods to be used at the early stages of the disease were RT-PCR for the detection of CHF virus RNA and EIA for the detection of early IgM. At later stages of the disease the method of EIA was found to be effective for the detection of specific IgG in paired blood sera. The simultaneous use of these two diagnostic methods, RT-PCR and EIA, made it possible to obtain more reliable results.
Zh. Mikrobiol. (Moscow), 2005, No. 4, Supplement, P. 90—93