Usefulness of a self-blown nasal discharge specimen for use with immunochromatography based influenza rapid antigen test

摘要

Influenza rapid antigen tests (IRAT) have become very popular and are widely used for confirming suspected clinical diagnosis of influenza in Japan. Most of the currently used IRAT that are based on immunochromatography (IC), nasopharyngeal swab, nasopharyngeal aspiration, and throat swab have been approved as specimens for Japanese national health insurance purposes. But the specimen collection by these methods gives patients considerable discomfort, and sometimes appropriate specimens cannot be obtained due to patient resistance, especially by children.In the present studies, self-blown nasal discharge was used as the specimen for an IRAT, and the results were compared with the results of viral isolation and an identical kit primed with nasopharyngeal swab specimens for seasonal influenza viruses and pandemic (H1N1)2009 virus.