Evaluation of cell population data on the UniCel DxH 800 Coulter Cellular Analysis system as a screening for viral infection in children

Introduction: The utility of WBC cell population data (CPD) for the differential diagnosis of viral infection from normal control, bacterial infection, and tuberculosis in children was investigated. Methods: A data set of 602 total whole-blood samples were analyzed on the DxH 800 System for complete blood cell count (CBC) with leukocyte differential from children with the following sample breakdown: 77 confirmed diagnoses of viral infections (Epstein-Barr virus; 30, influenza A; 19, rota virus; 11, other viruses;17), 54 normal control, 71 bacterial infection, 17TB patients, and 383 with various diseases. The mean (MN) and standard deviation (SD) of the volume (V), conductivity (C), five light-scatter measurements, and 14 calculated parameters were obtained for the leukocytes. Results: Using a combination of the CBC and CPD parameter values, a decision rule, composed of 21 parameters, for the screening of viral infection in children was developed. Using this decision rule, 74 of 77 (96.1%) viral infections, two of 54 (3.7%) normal samples, one of 17 (5.9%) TB, and six of 71 (8.5%) bacterial infection samples were identified. The sensitivity was 96.1%, and specificity for normal control was 96.3% with an overall specificity of 93.7%. Fifty-nine samples of 383 samples (15.4%) collected from in-patient children with various diseases without confirmation of viral infection were included in this decision rule. Conclusion: In conclusion, the implementation of leukocytes CPD parameters can be useful in the detection of viral infection in children.