comparison of real-time polymerase chain reaction and conventional cell culture for detection of influenza a in tabriz, iran

Influenza type a (h1n1) causes an epidemic disease, resulting in thousands of deaths throughout the world. our aim was comparing the efficacy of two different methods in isolating the influenza (h1n1) virus including cell culture and real-time pcr in tabriz and suburbs. of throat swab samples, 220 were collected in viral transport medium (vtm) from patients with a suspected influenza virus infection referred to hospitals and clinics of tabriz university of medical sciences. all the samples were examined through virus culturing in madin-darby canine kidney epithelial cells (mdck line) and also real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr). the collected data were analyzed by spss version 16. rt-pcr detected 41 cases of influenza a (h1n1), compared with the virus isolation methods that detected 18 cases. rt-pcr provided a sensitive and specific route compared with virus isolation. in addition, urgent planning for the vaccination program of influenza a is suggested, which can definitely prevent the spread of virus in this part of iran.