Reliability of a newly-developed immunochromatography diagnostic kit for pandemic influenza A/H1N1pdm virus: implications for drug administration

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 11; p. e50670
• Main Authors: Sasaki, Tadahiro, Kubota-Koketsu, Ritsuko, Takei, Michihiro, Hagihara, Tatsuo, Iwamoto, Shinichi, Murao, Takuya, Sawami, Kazuo, Fukae, Daizou, Nakamura, Masahiro, Nagata, Eiichi, Kawakami, Akira, Mitsubayashi, Yuko, Ohno, Masafumi, Uehara, Yasuo, Fukukawa, Takashi, Kanai, Yuta, Kosaka, Mieko, Ikuta, Kazuyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 30.11.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Animals; Antigens; Antiviral Agents - administration & dosage; Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Biology; Child; Child, Preschool; Chromatography, Affinity - methods; Comparative analysis; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; Diagnostic tests; Dispensing; DNA polymerases; Dogs; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Drug resistance; Drug therapy; Drugs; Fatalities; Female; Genomes; Health aspects; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infections; Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - drug effects; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - genetics; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - isolation & purification; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype - physiology; Influenza viruses; Influenza, Human - diagnosis; Influenza, Human - drug therapy; Influenza, Human - epidemiology; Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medicine; Middle Aged; Monoclonal antibodies; Pandemics; Patients; Point-of-Care Systems; Polymerase chain reaction; Predictive Value of Tests; Proteins; Reproducibility of Results; RNA-directed DNA polymerase; Seasons; Sensitivity; Swine flu; Symptomology; Time Factors; Virology; Viruses; Winter; Young Adult; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050670

For the diagnosis of seasonal influenza, clinicians rely on point-of-care testing (POCT) using commercially available kits developed against seasonal influenza viruses. However, POCT has not yet been established for the diagnosis of pandemic influenza A virus (H1N1pdm) infection due to the low sensitivity of the existing kits for H1N1pdm. An immunochromatography (IC) test kit was developed based on a monoclonal antibody against H1N1pdm, which does not cross-react with seasonal influenza A or B viruses. The efficacy of this kit (PDM-IC kit) for the diagnosis of H1N1pdm infection was compared with that of an existing kit for the detection of seasonal influenza viruses (SEA-IC kit). Nasal swabs (n = 542) were obtained from patients with flu-like syndrome at 13 clinics in Osaka, Japan during the winter of 2010/2011. Among the 542 samples, randomly selected 332 were further evaluated for viral presence by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The PDM-IC kit versus the SEA-IC kit showed higher sensitivity to and specificity for H1N1pdm, despite several inconsistencies between the two kits or between the kits and RT-PCR. Consequently, greater numbers of false-negative and false-positive cases were documented when the SEA-IC kit was employed. Significant correlation coefficients for sensitivity, specificity, and negative prediction values between the two kits were observed at individual clinics, indicating that the results could be affected by clinic-related techniques for sampling and kit handling. Importantly, many patients (especially influenza-negative cases) were prescribed anti-influenza drugs that were incongruous with their condition, largely due to physician preference for patient responses to questionnaires and patient symptomology, as opposed to actual viral presence. Concomitant use of SEA-IC and PDM-IC kits increased the likelihood of correct influenza diagnosis. Increasing the credibility of POCT is anticipated to decrease the inappropriate dispensing of anti-influenza drugs, thereby minimizing the emergence of drug-resistant H1N1pdm strains.