Evaluation of High Throughput Screening for Norovirus Detection from Fecal Specimens of Food Handlers by Bioluminescent Enzyme Immunoassay (BLEIA)

Abstract

The authors examined the sensitivity, specificity and the detection rate of Norovirus detection from fecal specimens of the food-handlers by using Bioluminescent Enzyme Immunoassay (BLEIA) system and conventional genetic detection method (RT-PCR) by Shimadzu, and evaluated the effectiveness of the BLEIA in comparing with RT-PCR assay. A total of 176 of the 2,427 (7.3%) specimens were positive for Norovirus by the BLEIA, and 153 (6.3%) specimens were positive for Norovirus by RT-PCR. The relative sensitivity, specificity, and correspondence rate of the BLEIA for RT-PCR were 95.4, 98.7, and 98.4%, respectively. These results indicated that the BLEIA has high performance equivalent to RT-PCR. The BLEIA system could rapidly analyze 1 specimen within 46 min, and has high processing capability of 120 tests per hour. The BLEIA is considered to be useful for regular screening for Norovirus detection among a large number of fecal samples from food-handlers.