Evaluation of Alere i RSV for Rapid Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Children Hospitalized with Acute Respiratory Tract Infection

Peters, Rebecca Marie; Schnee, Sarah Valerie; Tabatabai, Julia; Schnitzler, Paul; Pfeil, Johannes

In this study, we found that the novel Alere i RSV assay detects RSV infection with high sensitivity and specificity in NPS samples obtained from children hospitalized with acute respiratory tract infection. Results are delivered within 13 min, and positive samples usually are identified within 7 min. The assay displays a combined positive or negative test result for both RSV A and B without providing further information on RSV subtype. Both RSV A and B strains were reliably detected by the test assay. This provides clinicians with the confidence to act appropriately when a negative Alere i RSV test result is obtained. The assay requires 3 to 4 min of hands-on time. In our experience, it was user friendly and efficient, although some initial training is still required. We obtained 3 invalid test results due to a handling failure in the transfer of the sample eluate into the lyophilized test base.