Abstract: The present invention discloses methods for detecting picornaviruses in biological tissues. In the methods of the invention, at least a portion of picornavirus nucleic acid present in a test sample of a biological tissue suspected of containing picornavirus is amplified. Picornavirus nucleic acid is then detected by conventional separation techniques or by hybridizing the amplified nucleic acid with at least a portion of a nucleotide probe comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the amplified nucleic acid and detecting the probe. The invention also provides nucleotide primers and probes having nucleotide sequences characteristic of picornaviral RNA for use in detecting the viruses.