ABSTRACT
For environmental samples, there has long been a need for rapid methods to determine if viruses are present in samples such as food and drinking water. The recent findings that viruses, especially rotavirus, can be recovered from treated, municipal drinking water makes it more important that a technology for rapid detection of viruses be developed. For rapid diagnosis of some virus infections, direct detection of viruses in clinical specimens with fluorescent antibodies (FA) remains a highly useful technique. More recently, adsorption of antigens or antibodies to nitrocellulose membranes has been used for detection of viruses by enzyme-immunoassay (EIA). The homogeneous assay has been used mainly for detection of hormones, drugs, and other low molecular weight substances. In combination with cell culture, the FA technique can be used to shorten the time required for virus identification. For identification of specific virus types, such as rotaviruses, a monoclonal antibody-based EIA test might be suitable.
