Performance of five FDA-approved rapid antigen tests in the detection of 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus

Rapid antigen tests are commonly used by clinicians for rapid, simple, point-of-care testing. Five rapid antigen tests were shown to have low sensitivity (40.358.8%) when compared to real-time RT-PCR using nasal wash specimens from patients with influenza-like-illness (N?=?167) that were collected previously and confirmed as 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1)-positive by PCR. Rapid antigen test sensitivity correlated with virus levels in nasal secretions when comparisons were made to cycle threshold (CT) values obtained from real-time RT-PCR. When CT values are <25 (equating to viral concentrations of >104?TCID50/ml) sensitivity for all five rapid antigen kits was high (range: 8394% positive); however, when CT values are >30 (102?TCID50/ml), sensitivities of only 1618% were observed for four of five rapid antigen kits. The Directigen EZ Flu A?+?B test detected more positive samples (35%) at lower viral concentrations with CT values >30 when compared with other commercial kits (P?=?0.05). Rapid antigen test results must be interpreted with caution, and negative specimens may need confirmation by sensitive molecular assays. J. Med. Virol. 84:16991702, 2012. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.