Evaluation of a Real-Time Reverse Transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) Assay for Detection of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Clinical Samples from an Outbreak in South Korea in 2015

DOI: 10.1128/JCM.00667-17

Article Figures & Data

TABLE 1

Performance characteristics of the MERS-CoV r-gene rRT-PCR assay in comparison to those of the in-house assay^a

MERS-CoV r-gene rRT-PCR assay specimen	No. of positive results/total no. of tests (%)		PPA (95% CI)	NPA (95% CI)	OPA (95% CI)
MERS-CoV r-gene rRT-PCR assay specimen	MERS-CoV-positive cases	MERS-CoV-negative cases	PPA (95% CI)	NPA (95% CI)	OPA (95% CI)
Upper respiratory tract
OPSs (n = 28)^b	9/9 (100)	0/19 (0)	100.0 (70.1–100.0)	100.0 (83.2–100.0)	100.0 (87.9–100.0)
NPSs (n = 15)^c	5/5 (100)	0/10 (0)	100.0 (56.6–100.0)	100.0 (72.2–100.0)	100.0 (79.6–100.0)
Lower respiratory tract
Sputa (n = 55)^d	24/25 (96.0)	0/30 (0)	96.0 (80.5–99.3)	100.0 (88.6–100.0)	98.2 (90.4–99.7)
TTAs (n = 30)^e	10/10 (100)	0/20 (0)	100.0 (72.2–100.0)	100.0 (83.9–100.0)	100.0 (88.6–100.0)
ETAs (n = 2)^f	1/1 (100)	0/1 (0)	100.0 (20.7–100.0)	100.0 (20.7–100.0)	100.0 (34.2–100.0)

↵a MERS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus; rRT-PCR, real-time reverse transcription-PCR; PPA, positive percent agreement; NPA, negative percent agreement; OPA, overall percent agreement; CI, confidence interval; OPSs, oropharyngeal swabs; NPSs, nasopharyngeal swabs; TTAs, transtracheal aspirates; ETAs, endotracheal aspirates.
↵b The median C_T (range) was 39.2 (30.4 to 42.5).
↵c The median C_T (range) was 29.9 (27.6 to 38.1).
↵d The median C_T (range) was 33.5 (20.2 to 41.0).
↵e The median C_T (range) was 32.5 (22.3 to 37.5).
↵f The median C_T was 35.8.