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Negative Stain Electron Microscopy…a Valuable Diagnostic Method in a Molecular Probe Diagnostic World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

C. D. Humphrey
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Pathology Activity, Atlanta, Ga30333
S. S. Monroe
Affiliation:
Viral Gastroenteritis Section, DVRD, CDC, Atlanta, Ga30333
R. I. Glass
Affiliation:
Viral Gastroenteritis Section, DVRD, CDC, Atlanta, Ga30333
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Extract

Endemic and epidemic viral gastroenteritis are major causes of morbidity worldwide and are frequently a major cause of death in the developing world. Rotavirus, adenovirus, calicivirus, astrovirus, and the Norwalk virus family are the viruses most often associated with gastroenteritis. Of these, the major cause of epidemic viral gastroenteritis in the US is Norwalk-like viruses. Gastroenteritis caused by this virus group is responsible for such outbreaks in settings such as cruise ships, schools, camps, hospitals, day-care and extended care facilities, football games and festivals.

As early as the 1950s and 1960s electron microscopy (EM), including negative stain EM, was established as a diagnostic tool for identifying viruses. Negative stain EM is especially useful for identifying viruses that are difficult or impossible to culture (eg. viruses in the Norwalk family). The first Norwalk virus was identified in the 1969 by immune-negative stain EM. Many antigenic types were identified soon afterward that did not cross-react with the prototype Norwalk virus.

Type
Application of Classical and Novel Microscopy to Tissue Injury and Infectious Disease Pathogenesis
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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