Coxsackie IgM (IFA)
Sample: Serum
Schedule: Daily (IFA: Immunofluorescence)
Units: Titer
Range: Negative (If positive, repeat after 10 days)
Remarks: Coxsackie virus belongs to the group of enteroviruses and is associated with viral meningitis (aseptical meningitis), respiratory infections, stomatitis and epidemic myalgia. It is a non-polio enterovirus, which include all coxsackieviruses and echoviruses, a RNA viruses (picornaviruses) that readily infect and are shed from the lower digestive tract.
Initially it was believed that these agents primarily caused mild acute aseptic meningitis syndromes, pleurodynia, exanthems, pericarditis, non-specific febrile illness and occasional fulminant encephalomyocarditis of the newborn. It is now apparent that their spectrum of disease is much broader; there may be permanent sequelae and some infections may trigger chronic active disease processes.
