An assessment of the sensitivity of three methods for the detection of rotavirus

A comparison was made of the sensitivity of a current commercial ELISA for detecting rotavirus in faecal specimens with the more complex, technically demanding systems of electron microscopy and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Even after modification, the ELISA failed to detect 22% of specimens with particles identifiable by electron microscopy. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis failed to identify 2 out of 50 specimens with particles present but did distinguish 2 group C rotaviruses.