Isolation of parainfluenza virus from patients suffering from respiratory illness

Attempts were made to show the presence of human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV-3) in the respiratory tract of people suffering from respiratory illness. Since virus isolation is the most reliable method to show the presence of the virus in a patient, attempts were made in this study to inoculate samples collected from individual patients on to susceptible cells. One hundred samples were collected from nasal discharge and pharynx of patients suffering from respiratory illness who referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital from 13 Novembere 2000 to 11 March 2000. All samples were inoculated to susceptible cells after being treated with the PBS containing different antibiotics. Inoculated cells were observed microscopically for the presence of viral cytopathic effect (CPE) for seven days. All inoculated cells showing the CPE were subjected to the hemadsorption test using guineapig red blood cells resulted in 40 positive cases. Since there are different respiratory viruses that induce HAD in the cells, a virus neutralization test using PI3V-specific antiserum prepared in rabbits was applied to identify the viruses. Results showed that out of 40 isolated viruses 13 were HPI3 virus. Based on the results obtained in this study, it could be said that HPI3 virus is one of the prevalent viruses among people with respiratory disease. However, further studies should be made to claim that this virus is the main causative agent of such respiratory diseases.