Document Type
Article
Department
Biological and Biomedical Sciences; Paediatrics and Child Health
Abstract
Background: Viral flu is the predominant cause of hospitalization in young children, which invariably leads to enhanced morbidity and mortality in children in developing countries. Initial treatment of viral flu is based on presumptive diagnosis. Bedside testing is not common in clinical settings because of variable sensitivity and specificity of rapid tests in different settings.
Methods: To address this issue, we evaluated the performance of Binax influenza A/B rapid testing kit against two robust molecular platforms (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction [qRT-PCR] and TaqMan array card [TAC]) in 24 nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs, collected from children under 5 years of age.
Results: Binax was found to be less sensitive (56%), but 100% specific compared to qRT-PCR (100%) and TAC (>100%). Using TAC cards, 75% of samples were found to be coinfected with other bacterial and viral targets.
Conclusion: Binax flu is suitable for bedside testing in clinical and community settings. The negative results of Binax should be interpreted with caution and confirmed by rapid molecular tests.
Publication (Name of Journal)
Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Journal (BBRJ)
Recommended Citation
Kabir, F.,
Tariq, M.,
Aziz, F.,
Rizvi, S. I.,
Qureshi, S.,
Ali, S.,
Iqbal, N.
(2018). A comparison of three diagnostic platforms for the detection of influenza A and B in children. Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Journal (BBRJ), 2(1), 63-67.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_women_childhealth_paediatr/1209
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Included in
Biology Commons, Biotechnology Commons, Infectious Disease Commons, Influenza Virus Vaccines Commons, Pediatrics Commons