Objectives: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory illness in young children worldwide. Its detection by viral culture and immunofluorescent assay is time consuming and has low sensitivity. The objective of the study was to develop In House Light Cycler Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction for Rapid Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Methodology: In house developed Light Cycler Real-Time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (LC-RT-PCR) assay was standardized using designed primers for the rapid identification of clinical samples of RSV. Results: A total of 130 samples (throat swab and nasopharyngeal aspirate) obtained from University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, were efficiently tested and of which 54 (42%) were RSV positive. Conclusion: This study indicated that this newly developed in house rRT-PCR assay proved to be an excellent method for the rapid detection of RSV.

Objective: Respiratory infections represent a major public health problem worldwide. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of respiratory syncytial and influenza virus infections and analyzed in respect to demography and clinical perspective. Methods: The specimens were processed by cell culture and immunofluorescent assay (IFA) and real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (rRT-PCR) for detection of respiratory viruses. Results: Out of 505 specimens 189 (37.8%) were positive, in which RSV was positive in 124(24.8%) cases and influenza A was positive in 65(13%) cases. Positive cases for influenza virus A and RSV were analyzed based on demography: age, gender, ethnicity and clinical symptoms. There were no significant differences among gender, ethnicity and clinical symptoms in both RSV and influenza A virus infections. It was observed that children below 3 years of ages were more prone to RSV infections. On the contrary, influenza virus A infected all age groups of humans. Conclusion: RSV infects mostly child below 3 years of age and influenza virus infects all age group. No specificity of RSV and influenza infection in relation to demography.