Interprofessional Journal of Health Sciences. Vol.20 No.2 , July - December 2022.

DETECTION OF INFLUENZA A AND INFLUENZA B VIRUS USING ISOTHERMAL REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE-HELICASE DEPENDENT AMPLIFICATION SOLANA INFLUENZA A+B ASSAY
 

Rujikorn Kanlayanadonkit, Acharawan Thongmee, Ekawat Prasomsub, Patamaporn Sukplang, Wanida Pongstaporn, and Wasun Chantratita

Abstract

Influenza is a contagious respiratory tract infection usually caused by influenza A virus (Flu A) and influenza B virus (Flu B). Diagnosis of Influenza is very important in patient management and infection control. Therefore, rapid, low hands-on, and economical testing systems are needed, especially in influenza peak seasons. Currently, several laboratory methods are used for the detection of the Influenza virus, such as viral culture, serology, rapid antigen testing, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The RT-PCR, the reference method for Influenza detection, is an accurate method but quite expensive, and it takes at least 4 hours to complete the test. The Solana Influenza A+B, an Isothermal Reverse Transcriptase-Helicase dependent amplification (RT-HAD) method, is suggested as a new method for Influenza testing with minimum turnaround time. This study aimed to evaluate the performance characteristics of the Solana Influenza A+B assay and compare the results to the RT-PCR. A total of 260 samples of nasal swab and nasopharyngeal swab from patients with and without Influenza infections were tested in comparison with the reference method. The results showed that the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of the Solana Influenza A+B assay were 100% in all test parameters.   In addition, Solana Influenza A+B assay can detect Influenza A virus and Influenza B virus as low as 1,080 copies/µl and 115 copies/µl, respectively.  In addition, cross-reactivity was not observed when testing with other viral infected samples such as human rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial viruses A, respiratory syncytial viruses B, coronaviruses, and meta-pneumoviruses.  The Solana Influenza A+B assay and the RT-PCR displayed an excellent agreement for the detection of Flu A and Flu B. The Solana Influenza A+B assay was found to be a sensitive and fast alternative method for Flu A and Flu B detection in respiratory clinical samples.

Keywords: Solana Influenza A+B Assay, Influenza A virus, Influenza B virus

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