• Briony Hazelton, Timothy Gray, Jennifer Ho, V Mala Ratnamohan, Dominic E Dwyer, and Jen Kok.
• Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services, Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia; Westmead Clinical School, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia.
• Influenza Other Respi Viruses. 2015 May 1; 9 (3): 151-4.

BackgroundRapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDTs) have an important role in clinical decision-making; however, the performances of currently available assays vary widely.ObjectivesWe evaluated the performance of the Alere(™) i Influenza A&B (Alere(™) iNAT), a rapid isothermal nucleic acid amplification assay that has recently received FDA clearance, for the detection of influenza A and B viruses during the Australian influenza season of 2013. Results were compared to two other RIDTs tested in parallel; Quidel Sofia(®) Influenza A+B fluorescent immunoassay (FIA) and Alere(™) BinaxNOW(®) Influenza A & B immunochromatographic (ICT) assay.MethodsA total of 202 paired nasopharyngeal swabs collected from patients ≥ 16 years old with an influenza-like illness (ILI) were eluted in 2 ml of universal transport medium (UTM) that was used to perform all three RIDTs in parallel. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used as the reference standard.ResultsCompared to RT-PCR, Alere(™) iNAT detected 77.8% influenza A positive samples versus 71.4% and 44.4% for the Quidel Sofia(®) Influenza A+B FIA and BinaxNOW(®) Influenza A & B ICT assay, respectively. For influenza B, Alere(™) iNAT detected 75% of those positive by RT-PCR, versus 33.3% and 25.0% for Sofia(®) and BinaxNOW(®), respectively. The specificity of Alere(™) iNAT was 100% for influenza A and 99% for influenza B.ConclusionsAlere(™) i Influenza A&B is a promising new rapid influenza diagnostic assay with potential point-of-care applications.© 2015 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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