Kit for visually detecting the presence of a clinical specimen

Abstract

A kit for visually detecting the presence of a virus in a direct clinical specimen is provided. The kit employs a rapid and direct assay for visually detecting a virus having a characteristic enzyme in a direct clinical sample without the need for any culturing step, This assay contains the following steps: (1) the clinical sample is contacted in solution with a substrate for the enzyme which includes a chromogen that is cleaved from the substrate by the enzyme and a precipitating agent which reacts with the liberated chromogen to form a precipitate, (2) the precipitate is concentrated, and (3) the concentrated precipitate is visually observed for the characteristic color of the chromogen. The observance of the characteristic color confirms the presence of the virus in the clinical specimen. The kit contains (a) a buffer solution for extraction of the characteristic enzyme from the clinical sample; (b) a substrate for the characteristic enzyme, where the substrate contains a chromogen that is liberated by reaction between the characteristic enzyme and the substrate, if the characteristic enzyme is present in the clinical sample; (c) a precipitating agent which reacts with the liberated chromogen in the buffer solution to produce a colored precipitate if the characteristic enzyme is present in the clinical sample; and (d) a device for concentrating the colored precipitate sufficiently to provide a distinct, visibly detectable spot of the colored precipitate if the characteristic enzyme is present in the clinical sample.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.