This microplate based ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) kit is intended for the qualitative detection of rotavirus antigen in feces. The assay is a useful tool in the detection of active rotavirus infection in acute or chronic gastroenteritis.
Background:
Rotaviruses are the main and the most important pathogens that cause of non-bacterial acute gastroenteritis and diarrhea, especially in children from 6 months to 2 years of age, premature infants, the elderly, and the immunocompromised individuals. Rotaviruses have been identified in almost 40% of the faces of children with gastroenteritis. Rotavirus is the cause of up to 50% of the hospitalized cases of diarrhea in infant and young children. Almost every child has been infected with rotavirus by age 5. Over 3 million cases of rotavirus gastroenteritis occur annually in the US. There are about 120 million rotavirus infections every year worldwide and that causes the death of 600,000 to 650,000 children. On the other hand, study also indicates that a high frequency of rotavirus infections may increase the risk of celiac disease autoimmunity in childhood in genetically predisposed individuals.
Rotaviruses have a genome consisting of 11 double-stranded RNA segments surrounded by a distinctive three-layered icosahedral protein capsid. The first layer is formed by the protein VP2, with each vertex having a copy of the proteins VP1 and VP3. The second layer is formed by the protein VP6. The outermost protein layer is composed of the structural glycoprotein VP7 and the spike protein VP4. Viral particles are up to 100 nm in diameter and have a buoyant density of 1.36 g/ml in CsCl. Rotaviruses tend to affect gastrointestinal epithelial cells that are at the tip of the villus. Their triple protein coats make them very resistant to the normally prohibitive pH of the stomach, and also digestive enzymes (lipases and proteases) in the gastrointestinal tract. During the infection, rotavirus produces mRNA to support both protein translation and genome replication.
Rotavirus is transmitted by oral-fecal contact with an incubation period of 1-3 days. Characteristic symptoms include vomiting, hydrodiarrhoea for between 3 and 8 days, high temperature and stomach pains. A large amount of rotavirus particles is shed during infection.
Specific diagnosis of the rotavirus infection is made by identification of the virus in the patient's stool. Enzyme linked immunsorbent assay (ELISA) is the test most widely used to screen clinical specimens, Electron microscopy and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are used in some laboratories in addition or as an alternative to ELISA.
For investigational use only. The performance characteristics of this product have not been established.
