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Updated: Oct 8, 2025
Rapid Molecular Detection and Differentiation of Influenza Viruses A and B
Published on: January 30, 2017
Can laboratory evaluation differentiate between coronavirus disease-2019, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus
Ariel Ben Shimol, Shani Dahan, Nachshol Alon
1Amir Dagan, Department of Rheumatology, Wolfson Medical Center, Ha-Lokhamim St 62, Holon 5822012, Israel, Dr.a.dagan@gmail.com.
Aim:
To identify clinical and laboratory parameters that can assist in the differential diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections.
Methods:
In this retrospective cohort study, we obtained basic demographics and laboratory data from all 685 hospitalized patients confirmed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza virus, or RSV from 2018 to 2020. A multiple logistic regression was employed to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 and laboratory parameters.
Results:
SARS-CoV-2 patients were significantly younger than RSV (P=0.001) and influenza virus (P=0.022) patients. SARS-CoV-2 patients also displayed a significant male predominance over influenza virus patients (P=0.047). They also had significantly lower white blood cell count (median 6.3×106 cells/μ) compared with influenza virus (P<0.001) and RSV (P=0.001) patients. Differences were also observed in other laboratory values but were insignificant in a multivariate analysis.
Conclusions:
Male sex, younger age, and low white blood cell count can assist in the diagnosis of COVID-19 over other viral infections. However, the differences between the groups were not substantial enough and would probably not suffice to distinguish between the viral illnesses in the emergency department.
