I am working on a new way to detect a respiratory virus by doing a
cell count on a nasopharyngeal swab that has been vortexed in a saline
solution. A drop of this solution can be placed on a slide and stained
with wright stain. I think the number of epithelial cells present on
this slide is inversely proportional to the amount of virus present in
the specimen and the amount of lymphocytes is directly proportional to
the amount of virus present in the specimen. This test would cut the
cost of screening for virus during the winter down to almost nothing. If
virus is detected a more expensive reflex test could be preformed like
influenza IgG, IgM, or IFA so that Tamiflu can be prescribed to the
immunocompromised. If no virus is present then there is no need to
preform and expensive test. I will be devising an experiment to test
this hypothesis for now here is some interesting preliminary discoveries
that I have made.
The following images are fields of one
nasopharyngeal slide stained with Write stain that was positive for
influenza A. Notice that the few epithelial cells that are present in
the fields have been destroyed either by the virus or by cytotoxic
effects from interferon's. Also note the many leukocytes present in
these fields.
The
following images are fields of one nasopharyngeal slide stained with
Write stain that was negative for viral infection. Notice that the
epithelial cells that are present are large and healthy and note the
rarity of leukocytes when compared to the positive specimen.
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