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Performance evaluation of Puritan® universal transport system (UniTranz‐RT™) for preservation and transport of clinical viruses
Author(s) -
Brasel Trevor,
Madhusudhan Kunapuli T.,
Agans Krystle,
Dearen Karen,
Jones Sara L.,
Sherwood Robert L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.24236
Subject(s) - virology , virus , varicella zoster virus , serial dilution , herpes simplex virus , biology , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
The ability of a non‐propagating microbial transport medium to maintain the viability of clinically relevant viruses was compared to a similar commercial medium to establish performance equivalence. Two dilutions of stock of test viruses, namely adenovirus (AdV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), echovirus Type 30 (EV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2, influenza A, parainfluenza 3 (PIV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and varicella zoster virus (VZV), were spiked into Puritan® Medical Products Company Universal Transport System (UniTranz‐RT™) and BD TM Universal Viral Transport System (UVT) and incubated at 4 °C and room temperature (RT) for up to 72 hr. Post incubation assessment of recovery of AdV, EV, HSV‐2, PIV, and VZV from UniTranz‐RT™ and UVT using shell vial assays followed by immunofluorescence staining demonstrated statistically significant differences between both transport media. In general, significantly higher recoveries of AdV, EV, and VZV were found from UniTranz‐RT™ than UVT whereas HSV‐2 and PIV were recovered better from UVT than UniTranz‐RT™, under specific test conditions. The recovery of HSV‐1, influenza A, PIV, and RSV showed no significant differences between transport media. Sulforhodamine B‐based assay analysis of UniTranz‐RT™ lots prior to and at expiration exhibited no cytotoxicity. The overall results of the study validate the full performance of UniTranz‐RT™ as a viral transport medium and establish its effectiveness on par with the UVT. J. Med. Virol. 87:1796–1805, 2015 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.