Detection of viruses by amplification and hybridization

Claim 1

A process for detecting or monitoring a virus nucleic acid which nucleic acid sequence is specific to nucleic acids in isolates of said virus or related isolates and which nucleic acid sequence is suspected of being contained in a sample, which process comprises: (a) treating the sample with two oligonucleotide primers, four different nucleoside triphosphates, and an agent for polymerization, under hybridizing conditions, which primers are sufficiently complementary to nucleic acid sequences of said virus or related virus isolates to hybridize therewith, such that for each strand of the viral nucleic acid sequence an extension product of each primer is synthesized which is substantially complementary to a strand of the virus nucleic acid sequence being detected or monitored, such that the extension product synthesized for each primer, when separated from its complement, can serve as a template for synthesis of the extension product of the other primer; (b) treating the sample under denaturing conditions to separate the primer extension products from their templates; (c) treating the product of step (b) with oligonucleotide primers such that a primer extension product is synthesized using each of the single strands produced in step (b) as a template, resulting in amplification of the sequence specific to the nucleic acids in the viruses; (d) repeating step (b) and (c) to synthesize detectable amounts of said viral nucleic acid sequence if present in said sample providing an amplified nucleic acid sequence; and (e) determining if amplification has occurred.