Prompt detection of influenza A and B viruses using the BD Veritor™ System Flu A+B, Quidel® Sofia® Influenza A+B FIA, and Alere BinaxNOW® Influenza A&B compared to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)

The performance characteristics of rapid influenza diagnostic tests vary widely. This study evaluated the BD Veritor™ System Flu A+B (Veritor; BD Diagnostics, Sparks, MD, USA), Quidel® Sofia® Influenza A+B FIA (Sofia; Quidel Corp., San Diego, CA, USA), and Alere BinaxNOW® Influenza A&B (Binax; Alere Scarborough, Inc., Scarborough, ME, USA) compared to reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for detection of influenza viruses in nasal wash specimens from 240 pediatric patients. Positive percent agreements for influenza A and B virus detection were 93.8% and 94.2%, 95.8% and 98.1%, and 79.2% and 80.8% for Veritor, Sofia, and Binax, respectively. The Veritor and Binax tests demonstrated negative percent agreements >97.9% for detection of both influenza viruses, but the negative percent agreement of the Sofia test was 91.1% for influenza A and 70.7% for influenza B virus. Overall, the Veritor and Sofia tests were nearly as sensitive as RT-PCR and considerably more sensitive than Binax for detection of influenza viruses. However, the accuracy of the Sofia test was significantly lower than either Veritor or Binax.