Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical value of a new type of fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay in rapid detection of influenza A virus. METHODS: A total of 378 samples of nasopharyngeal secretions were collected from 378 children with influenza-like symptoms to detect the influenza A virus by fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay, colloidal gold immunoassay, and RT-PCR between July 2015 and August 2015. RESULTS: Of the 378 samples, 81 (21.4%) were positive for influenza A virus by RT-PCR. Compared with RT-PCR, the sensitivities of fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay and colloidal gold immunoassay were 90.1% (73/81) and 75.3% (61/81), respectively, and the specificities were 99.3% (295/297) and 98.3% (292/297), respectively. The average threshold cycle (Ct) value for the positive samples detected by the fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay (30.6) was higher than that for the positive samples detected by the colloidal gold immunoassay (28.7). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with colloidal gold immunoassay, fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay has higher sensitivity, specificity, and concordance rate with RT-PCR, suggesting that it can be used for early screening and diagnosis of influenza A.