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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2009, p. 527-532, Vol. 47, No. 3
0095-1137/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JCM.01213-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Division of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine,1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada2
Received 26 June 2008/ Returned for modification 24 September 2008/ Accepted 27 December 2008
We evaluated the Prodesse ProFlu-1 real-time reverse transcription-PCR multiplex assay with the SmartCycler instrument for the detection of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza A and B viruses in comparison to conventional cell culture and antigen immunoassays with the BD Directigen A+B and Binax NOW RSV assays over two successive respiratory virus seasons. Ninety-two percent of the 361 specimens tested were nasopharyngeal aspirates obtained from individual patients, of which 119 were positive for RSV and 59 were positive for influenza virus. The median age of the patients whose specimens were positive for RSV and influenza virus were 6.3 months and 42.4 years, respectively. The specificity of all of the methods tested was
99%, and the individual sensitivities of NOW RSV, RSV culture, Directigen A+B, influenza virus culture, and the Proflu-1 PCR for influenza/RSV were 82% (95% confidence interval [CI], 73 to 88), 57% (95% CI, 44 to 69), 59% (95% CI, 44 to 72), 54% (95% CI, 38 to 69), and 98% (95% CI, 93 to 100)/95% (95% CI, 85 to 99), respectively. In a clinical setting where viral isolation is performed to confirm rapid antigen immunoassay results for these common respiratory viruses, one-step real-time reverse transcriptase PCR testing can be a more sensitive and timely confirmatory method.
Published ahead of print on 7 January 2009.
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