Comparison of a lateral-flow immunochromatography assay with real-time RT-PCR for detection of human metapneumovirus

Pediatric Clinic, Touei Hospital, Sapporo, Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corporation, Tokyo, Nippon Gene Co., LTD., Tokyo, Sumiyoshi Pediatric Clinic, Chitose, Pediatric Clinic, Tenshi Hospital, Sapporo, Pediatric Clinic, Sapporo Kosei General Hospital, Sapporo, Poplar Pediatric Clinic, Sapporo, Pediatric Clinic, Hokkaido Social Insurance Hospital, Sapporo, Taguchi Pediatric Clinic, Sapporo, Pediatric Clinic, KKR Sapporo Medical Center, Sapporo, Pediatric Clinic, Sapporo Hokuyu Hospital, Sapporo, Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: hide-ki{at}touei.or.jp.

	Abstract

A lateral-flow immunochromatography (IC) assay has been developed using two mouse monoclonal antibodies to nucleocapsid protein of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) for detection of hMPV. The purpose of this study was to compare the virus detection rate in nasopharyngeal secretions by the IC assay with that by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We collected nasopharyngeal swab samples from 247 children with respiratory symptoms in Sapporo, Japan during the period from April to July in 2007. Sixty-eight of the 247 children were positive for hMPV by real-time RT-PCR. When the real-time RT-PCR was used as the reference standard, the IC assay results were positive in 48 of the 68 real-time RT-PCR-positive children (70.6% sensitivity) and in 8 of the 179 real-time RT-PCR-negative children (95.5% specificity). Although the sensitivity of the IC assay is lower than that of real-time RT-PCR, the IC assay is a rapid and useful test for diagnosis of hMPV infections in children.