Laboratory diagnosis of viral infections

In the diagnostic laboratory virus infections are confirmed by several methods that include:

Growth of the virus in a cell culture from a specimen taken from the patient.
Detection of virus-specific antibodies in the blood.
Detection of virus antigens
Detection of virus nucleic acids
Observation of virus particles by electron microscopy.
Hemagglutination assay

Cell culture
When growing virus in a cell culture, the cells affected with virus will evolve morphologic changes, often specific for the type of virus involved.
Antibody detection
When the adaptive immune system of a vertebrate encounters a virus, it produces specific antibodies which bind to the virus and render it non-infectious. This is called humoral immunity. Two types of antibodies are important. The first called IgM is highly effective at neutralizing viruses but is only produced by the cells of the immune system for a...