J Lab Med Qual Assur.  2007 Dec;29(2):207-210.

Rapid Diagnosis of Respiratory Virus Infection

• Song SH
• Kim EC

Abstract

Rapid diagnosis of respiratory virus infection is of vital importance for clinical laboratories to enable physicians and infection control team to start prompt action and to prevent the spread of pathogens. Conventional methods of viral cell culture, immunofluorescence assay are accurate, but time-consuming and labor intensive. Recent advances in molecular techniques give us another options to rapidly identify respiratory viruses. Rapid antigen tests are designed for detection of respiratory syncytial virus or influenza virus. They are the simplest and fastest, but require more sensitive test due to their low sensitivities and negative predictive values. Nucleic acid amplification tests are based on multiplex RT-PCR. They use different target amplification, probing, and signal detection techniques. Five to twenty types of respiratory virus can be simultaneously identified using such methods. Each laboratory should adopt its own strategy for rapid identification and confirmation of respiratory viruses considering turnaround time, sample amount, facilities, and laboratory staffs.

MeSH Terms

Cell Culture Techniques
Diagnosis*
Fluorescent Antibody Technique
Infection Control
Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques
Orthomyxoviridae
Respiratory Syncytial Viruses