Advances in the diagnosis of respiratory tract infections: role of the Luminex xTAG respiratory viral panel.

Clinical laboratories providing an etiological diagnosis of respiratory tract infections (RTI) have increasingly relied on nucleic acid amplification tests. Polymerase chain reaction-based methods are becoming more standardized, and several have undergone the scrutiny of regulatory agencies mandated to assess the risks and benefits of implementing pathogen-detection assays into diagnostic algorithms. Respiratory viruses lead to both upper and lower RTI and are implicated in exacerbations of chronic pulmonary conditions.

A prospective molecular surveillance study evaluating the clinical impact of community-acquired respiratory viruses in lung transplant recipients.

Background: Community-acquired respiratory viral infections (RVIs) are common in lung transplant patients and may be associated with acute rejection and bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS). The use of sensitive molecular methods that can simultaneously detect a large panel of respiratory viruses may help better define their effects.

Methods: Lung transplant recipients undergoing serial surveillance and diagnostic bronchoalveolar lavages (BALs) during a period of 3 years were enrolled.

Development of a respiratory virus panel test for detection of twenty human respiratory viruses by use of multiplex PCR and a fluid microbead-based assay.

Virology laboratories historically have used direct fluorescent-antibody assay (DFA) and culture to detect six or seven respiratory viruses. Following the discovery of five new human respiratory viruses since 2000, there is an increasing need for diagnostic tests to detect these emerging viruses. We have developed a new test that can detect 20 different respiratory virus types/subtypes in a single 5-h test.