Quantitative virus infectivity titration and dose-response analyses using cell-culture based methods and python code-assisted data analysis

Enteroviruses greatly affect public health worldwide. Therefore, methods to reliably and quickly identify virus infections and screen treatments or preventatives against them are needed. Here, we describe protocols for analyzing the concentrations of infective enteroviruses and neutralizing enterovirus antibodies and the efficacy of antiviral compounds against enteroviruses and compound cytotoxicity with a cell-based method in a microtiter plate format accompanied with python scripts for data and statistical analyses. Detailed instructions for performing the methods and running the scripts are provided, and scripts are available in a public repository. The assays described here are faster and less labor intensive than state-of-the-art methods, producing results in less than 72 h. Developed scripts can reduce the amount of manual handling of the data and calculations, enabling analysis of large datasets without the use of commercial software. The developed methods can be utilized by researchers and healthcare providers for diagnostic and screening purposes for viruses growing in cell cultures.