Premium
Evaluation of the automated multianalyte point‐of‐care mariPOC® test for the detection of influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus
Author(s) -
Tuuminen Tamara,
Suomala Päivi,
Koskinen Janne O.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.23660
Subject(s) - virus , medicine , virology , point of care , influenza a virus , respiratory system , prospective cohort study , pathology
The aim of the study was to evaluate the performance of the new mariPOC® method against the direct fluorescent antibody assay (DFA) as the primary reference method for rapid virus detection from nasopharyngeal aspirates and swab samples. The study was an open prospective evaluation during the seasonal winter epidemics in the Mikkeli Central Hospital, Finland. Altogether, 283 samples were analyzed; 124 (43.8%) were from young children (<5 years old). Discrepant samples were resolved by PCR. With nasopharyngeal aspirate samples, the sensitivity and clinical specificity of the mariPOC® assay for influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus, were 85.7% (CI 69.7–95.2) and 90% (CI 52.0–80.5), and 100% and 99.5%, respectively. The mariPOC® performed less well with swab samples having sensitivities at 77.3% (CI 54.6–92.2) and 67.4% (CI 52–80.5), respectively. The specificities were as for nasopharyngeal aspirates. Importantly, similar performance was observed regardless of the cohort age group. In conclusion, the mariPOC® test system has a high potential and utility in duty units because it is fast, simple, and multianalyte. The importance of personnel training for proper sample collection should be emphasized. J. Med. Virol. 85:1598–1601, 2013 . © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.