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Rapid Molecular Detection and Differentiation of Influenza Viruses A and B
Published on: January 30, 2017
Missed diagnosis of influenza B virus due to nucleoprotein sequence mutations, Singapore, April 2011
1Molecular Diagnosis Centre, Department of Laboratory Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore.
Abstract:
A new influenza B variant was discovered in Singapore in April 2011 during diagnostic testing of a 3-year-old boy with respiratory symptoms. Influenza B virus was isolated from culture and confirmed by standard immunofluorescence testing, but was not detected by the routine, in-house influenza screening reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assay that targets the nucleoprotein (NP) gene. Subsequent sequencing investigations demonstrated that several other published assays targeting NP could also fail to detect this novel variant.
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