Apropos 'performance of influenza point-of-care tests in the detection of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza viruses'.

摘要

We write to support Hurt et al. regarding the urgent necessity of point-of-care (POC) test kits with enhanced sensitivity for influenza diagnosis.Recent evaluations of three POC tests, the Binax Now, BD, Directigen EZ and Quidel Quick Vue, with stock viruses and clinical specimens have been enlightening. Although at high virus concentration they matched real-time RT-PCR results when employing Swine lineage A (H1N1) and human seasonal influenza strains, they performed poorly in samples with low virus concentration. That was also observed in the USA during April-May 2009 with 65 clinical respiratory samples. POC kits did detect Swine lineage A (H1N1) in those samples that had high levels of virus, as indicated by low cycle threshold in real-time RT-PCR.