Comparison of three commercial RT-PCR systems for the detection of respiratory viruses.

BACKGROUND: Due to the insensitivity of rapid tests for respiratory viruses, nucleic acid amplification tests are quickly becoming the standard of care.

OBJECTIVES AND STUDY DESIGN: The performance of the FilmArray Respiratory Panel (RP) and Verigene RV+ (RV+) were compared in a retrospective analysis of 89 clinical specimens previously determined to be positive for the following viruses by our test of record, Prodesse (Pro): influenza A (29, FluA), influenza B (13, FluB), respiratory syncytial virus (12, RSV), human metapneumovirus (10, hMPV), parainfluenza (14, PIV), and adenovirus (10, AdV). Samples positive for influenza A, B or RSV were tested by both methods, while the remainder were tested by RP only. True positives were defined as positive by two or more assays.

RESULTS: Limit of detection (LOD) analyses demonstrated Pro had the lowest LOD for all FluA strains tested, PIV1, PIV2 and AdV; RV+ had the lowest LOD for FluB; and RP had the lowest LOD for RSV, PIV3 and hMPV. Of the 55 samples tested by RV+, all 54 true positive samples were positive by RV+. Of the 89 samples tested by RP, 85 of the 88 true positive samples were positive by RP. From these results, the overall sensitivities for influenza A, B and RSV were 100% and 98% for RV+ and RP, respectively. The overall sensitivity of RP for all viruses was 97%.

CONCLUSIONS: In summary, these systems demonstrated excellent performance. Furthermore, each system has benefits which will ensure they will all have a niche in a clinical laboratory.