Human parainfluenza virus type 1 (hPIV1) does not form clear plaque by the conventional plaque formation assay because of slightly a cytopathic effects in many cell lines infected with hPIV1, thus making in virus titration, isolation and inhibitor evaluation difficult. We have succeeded in fluorescent histochemical visualization of sialidase activities of influenza A and B viruses, Newcastle disease virus and Sendai virus by using a novel fluorescent sialidase substrate, 2-(benzothiazol-2-yl)-4-bromophenyl 5-acetamido-3,5-dideoxy-α-D-glycero-D-galacto-2-nonulopyranosidonic acid (BTP3-Neu5Ac). In this study, we applied the BTP3-Neu5Ac assay for rapid detection of hPIV1 and hPIV type 3. The BTP3-Neu5Ac assay could histochemically visualize dot-blotted hPIVs on a membrane and hPIV-infected cells as local fluorescence under UV irradiation. We succeeded in distinct fluorescent visualization of hPIV1-infected cells in only 3 d using the BTP3-Neu5Ac assay. Due to there being no fixation, hPIV1 was isolated directly from fluorescent stained focus cells by the BTP3-Neu5Ac assay. Establishment of a sensitive, easy, and rapid fluorescent focus detection assay for hPIV, hPIV1 in particular will contribute greatly to progress in hPIV studies.Key words human parainfluenza virus (hPIV); sialidase activity; fluorescent visualization; histochemical staining;Human parainfluenza virus type 1 (hPIV1) and human parainfluenza virus type 3 (hPIV3) belong to genus Respirovirus, subfamily Paramyxovirinae, and family Paramyxoviridae. The hPIVs cause flu-like respiratory symptoms, including croup, pneumonia and bronchiolitis, mainly in infants younger than 5 years old and immunocompromised patients. Severe symptoms often lead to hospitalization and occasionally result in sudden death of newborns and infants. hPIVs, the majority of which are hPIV1 and hPIV3, are detected from approximately 20% of viral pneumonia cases in infants younger than 5 years of age.1,2) Although hPIVs are clinically important respiratory viruses for infants and immunocompromised patients, vaccines and medicines against hPIVs have not been developed.Clinical samples and virus culture supernatants include some viruses and mutants. When viruses replicate in the presence of a certain inhibitor, inhibitor-resistant mutant viruses may appear in the culture supernatant. To separate a virus isolate from such samples, the plaque formation assay is frequently used. A virus infects a cell and produces progeny viruses that spread to infect neighboring cells. The population of infected cells shows a cytopathic effect (CPE), for example, cell death or syncytium formation. When virus-cultured cells are overlaid by a medium containing agarose, cell lysis induced by CPE is visualized as a plaque. A virus isolate can be picked up directly from a plaque, which is formed by an isolate. hPIV3 has been reported to form large plaques in human epidermoid cancer (HEp-2) cells, in which hPIV3 shows much syncytium formation.3) On the other hand, hPIV1 does not form plaques by the normal plaq...