Evaluate the relative performance of two commercial broad range systems for the detection of viral agents in clinical respiratory tract specimens from immunocompromised children.
A total of 176 patient samples were included in the analysis, representing only the first sample collected for each patient, and excluding failed reactions. Samples were de-identified and assayed in parallel using two different, broadly multiplexed PCR systems: ResPlex鈩?II Panel v2.0 (ResPlex), Qiagen, Hilden, Germany and FilmArray庐 Respiratory Panel (FilmArray), Idaho Technology Inc., Salt Lake City, UT. Method comparison was based upon pair-wise concordance of results according to patient age, viral target and number of targets detected.
The two systems showed an overall concordance, by patient, of 83.8%(p = 0.0001). FilmArray detected at least one target in 68.8%of samples, while ResPlex detected at least one target in 56.8%. ResPlex failed to detect 20.7%of FilmArray positives, and FilmArray failed to detect 4%of ResPlex positives. The relative performance of each system (including which system detected a higher number of positive samples) varied when stratified by target viral pathogen.
Broadly multiplexed PCR is an effective means of detecting large numbers of clinically relevant respiratory viral pathogens.