Rotavirus quantification: a comparison between the enumerative and the MPN techniques.
A commonly used technique to isolate rotaviruses from a water environment involves the inoculation on cell culture associated with the revelation of the viral multiplication by indirect immunofluorescence. The results of the experiment using this methodology may be expressed either with an enumerative technique or with a MPN technique. We have found that the enumerative method provided the highest yield as opposed to the MPN method by a ratio close to 3.7. According to the experimental conditions that were used, the enumerative method should be favored for the detection of viruses from a medium with low viral density or when quantifying viruses from a given sample. This work involves a comparative study where the MPN method is very attractive because of the ease of implementation and the rapidity with which results may be obtained.