All issues > Volume 51(10); 2008

Original Article

Korean J Pediatr. 2008;51(10):1071-1076. Published online October 15, 2008.

Clinical usefulness of rapid antigen test to detect respiratory syncytial virus infection

Hyung Su HS Kim¹, Hee La HL Kim¹, Ki Hyung KH Park², Kyung Soon KS Cho³

¹Department of Pediatrics, Busan Medical Center, Busan, Korea
²Department of Clinical Pathology, Busan Medical Center, Busan, Korea
³Bacteriology Division, Busan Metropolitan City Institute of Health & Environment, Busan, Korea

Correspondence Hyung Su HS Kim ,Email: h660216@chol.com

Abstract

Purpose
: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most frequent cause of lower respiratory infections in infants and young children. Early detection allows quarantining of infected inpatients to prevent nosocomial transmission and to choose a treatment. To achieve rapid reporting, to facilitate prompt antiviral therapy, and to avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics, an easy, rapid diagnostic method for RSV is needed. We evaluated a lateral flow immunochromatography (RSV Respi-Strip test) and EIA (Enzyme immuno assay) compared to RT-PCR.
Methods
: From April 2007 to March 2008, 112 consecutive respiratory specimens (nasopharyngeal aspirates, throat swabs, tracheal aspirates, sputum) from patients who were suffering from the clinical signs and symptoms of respiratory tract infection were enrolled in Busan. A total of 112 patients were tested with RSV Respi-Strip (Corio-BioConcept, Belgium), EIA, and RT-PCR at the same time.
Results
: Of the 112 specimens tested, the number of children who showed positive results at RT-PCR and Respi-Strip were 45 and 42, respectively. The Respi-Strip rapid antigen test had a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 94%. The positive and negative predictive values were 90% and 92%, respectively. The agreement was 83%.
Conclusion
: In our study, the rapid antigen test had as much sensitivity as any method for detection of RSV. The test has many advantages such as easy performance, simple interpretation, and rapid results. If the rapid antigen test is widely applied in the clinical setting, the may be useful for diagnostic and epidemiological studies of RSV infection.

Keywords :Respiratory syncytial virus, Rapid antigen test