title: The continued rise of respiratory viruses.
abstract: Respiratory viral illness ranges from trivial to fatal. Testing is indicated only in a minority. The decision to test is based on clinical presentation, available resources, and the clinician's philosophy. Flocked swabs are easier to obtain than aspirates and perform similarly. Commercially available room-temperature transport media perform well and should be used with both swabs and aspirates sent for PCR testing. Nucleic-acid-amplification techniques are preferred to immunochromatographic antigen tests but are less widely available and take longer. Immunochromatographic antigen tests should not be used if prevalence is low. The development of novel antiviral agents will tend to increase viral testing and cost containment measures to decrease it. Overall, testing for respiratory viruses is likely to increase.
authors.affiliation: David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California-Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walsh
mesh_terms: D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D004496:Education, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral