Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
-
Both serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA and RNA can reflect intrahepatic covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) activity. However, correlations among viral markers haven't been fully explored. ⋯ HBV replication capability was lower in acute hepatitis B patients than in chronic HBV-infected individuals. In treatment-naïve HBeAg-positive chronic HBV-infected individuals, serum HBV DNA plus RNA showed superiority in reflecting intrahepatic cccDNA activity than each alone. Moreover, mutated RT region of HBV polymerase might lead to the attenuated reverse transcriptional activity of HBV polymerase in HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection phase.
-
Multicenter Study
Multi-center evaluation of the cobas® Liat® Influenza A/B & RSV assay for rapid point of care diagnosis.
Point of Care Testing (POCT) provides the capability for rapid laboratory test results in patient care environments where a traditional clinical laboratory is not available. POCTs have shorter turn-around times (TATs), they may be performed by non-laboratory personnel, and the need for transport time is eliminated. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendment (CLIA) waiver status to the cobas® Influenza A/B & RSV assay, a rapid, accurate point-of-care test for Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) performed on the Liat® System. ⋯ The cobas® Influenza A/B and RSV assay showed sensitivities of 99.6%, 99.3%, and 96.8% for Influenza A, Influenza B, and RSV, respectively as determined from percent positive agreement (PPA) following comparison to the reference test. Sequencing confirmed cobas® Influenza A/B and RSV results in 49.2% of reference test discordant specimens, while crossing threshold data suggest increased sensitivity compared to the reference test. The cobas® Influenza A/B and RSV assay was found to be a rapid, sensitive POCT for the detection of these viruses, and provides laboratory-quality PCR-based diagnostic results in point of care settings.
-
Emerging and re-emerging respiratory pathogens represent an increasing threat to public health. Etiological determination during outbreaks generally relies on clinical information, occasionally accompanied by traditional laboratory molecular or serological testing. Often, this limited testing leads to inconclusive findings. The Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) collected 12,865 nasopharyngeal specimens from acute influenza-like illness (ILI) patients in five countries in South/South East Asia during 2010-2013. Three hundred and twenty-four samples which were found to be negative for influenza virus after screening with real-time RT-PCR and cell-based culture techniques demonstrated the potential for viral infection with evident cytopathic effect (CPE) in several cell lines. ⋯ WG-NGS was an effective way to expand pathogen identification in surveillance studies. This enabled the identification of a viral agent in 71.3% (231/324) of unidentified surveillance samples, including common respiratory pathogens (100/324; 30.9%): enterovirus (16/100; 16.0%), coxsackievirus (31/100; 31.0%), echovirus (22/100; 22.0%), human rhinovirus (3/100; 3%), enterovirus genus (2/100; 2.0%), influenza A (9/100; 9.0%), influenza B, (5/100; 5.0%), human parainfluenza (4/100; 4.0%), human adenovirus (3/100; 3.0%), human coronavirus (1/100; 1.0%), human metapneumovirus (2/100; 2.0%), and mumps virus (2/100; 2.0%), in addition to the non-respiratory pathogen herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) (172/324; 53.1%) and HSV-1 co-infection with respiratory viruses (41/324; 12.7%).
-
Accurate detection of influenza requires diagnostic testing; however, methods such as RADTs and central laboratory-based tests are limited by low sensitivity and time constraints, respectively. ⋯ The cobas Influenza A/B assay demonstrated performance equivalent to laboratory-based PCR, and could replace rapid antigen tests.
-
Observational Study
Inflammasome expression and cytomegalovirus viremia in critically ill patients with sepsis.
CMV viremia is a contributor to poor outcomes in critically ill patients with sepsis. ⋯ These data document possible involvement of inflammasome in the pathogenesis of CMV. Regulating the host immune response by agents that target these genes may have implications for improving CMV-related outcomes in these patients.