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Updated: May 20, 2026
Rapid Molecular Detection and Differentiation of Influenza Viruses A and B
Published on: January 30, 2017
A novel high-speed droplet-polymerase chain reaction can detect human influenza virus in less than 30 min
Kazuyuki Matsuda1, Akemi Yamaguchi, Chiaki Taira
1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Shinshu University Hospital, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
Background:
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been widely used for diagnosis of infection. Rapid detection of influenza virus is useful for therapeutic decisions. We attempted to develop a novel assay by real-time droplet-PCR machine for influenza virus.
Methods:
RNA extracted from nasal swabs or primary swabs pretreated only were used for PCR analyses. We evaluated reaction time, amplification efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity of the novel droplet-PCR.
Results:
The reaction time of the novel droplet-PCR was 28 min, whereas that of PCR using the conventional PCR machine was 80 min. The standard curve constructed from the amplification plots by the novel droplet-PCR was: y=-3.6x+42.9; that by PCR using the conventional PCR machine was: y=-3.5x+37.8. The sensitivity and specificity of the novel droplet-PCR were 86.7% and 91.7% for the influenza A and 100.0% and 100.0% for the influenza B, respectively. The novel droplet-PCR provided the specific amplification when using primary swabs without RNA extraction.
Conclusions:
Our novel droplet-PCR markedly reduced the reaction time while showing same reactivity as that by PCR using the conventional PCR machine. Thus, the novel droplet-PCR assay can be used as a rapid assay for detection of influenza virus.
