Performance of an influenza rapid test in children in a primary healthcare setting in Nicaragua.
BACKGROUND
Influenza is major public health threat worldwide, yet the diagnostic accuracy of rapid tests in developing country settings is not well described.


RESULTS
To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the QuickVue Influenza A+B test in a primary care setting in a developing country, we performed a prospective study of diagnostic accuracy of the QuickVue Influenza A+B test in comparison to reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in a primary healthcare setting in children aged 2 to 12 years in Managua, Nicaragua. The sensitivity and specificity of the QuickVue test compared to RT-PCR were 68.5% (95% CI 63.4, 73.3) and 98.1% (95% CI 96.9, 98.9), respectively, for children with a fever or history of a fever and cough and/or sore throat. Test performance was found to be lower on the first day that symptoms developed in comparison to test performance on days two or three of illness.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study found that the QuickVue Influenza A+B test performed as well in a developing country primary healthcare facility setting as in developed country settings.
Gordon
Aubree
A
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
Videa
Elsa
E
Saborio
Saira
S
López
Roger
R
Kuan
Guillermina
G
Reingold
Arthur
A
Balmaseda
Angel
A
Harris
Eva
E
D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003906:Developing Countries; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D009527:Nicaragua; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000821:virology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic