Examination of usefulness of SPOTCHEM FLORA SF-5520 in rapid influenza test using the densitometry judgment system

Abstract

Rapid diagnostic kits are widely used as diagnostic tools for influenza virus infections, but false negatives are also obtained in the initial stage of infection and because of human errors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of SPOTCHEM FLORA SF-5520 (SPOTCHEM FLORA) in the laboratory. The subjects were evaluated by 17 (33 ± 16 years of age) medical technicians of Kagoshima Medical Center. Immunoace FluAB (Towns) was used for visual judgment, and SPOTCHEM FLORA (Arkray) was used for densitometry judgment. Each dilution series was prepared from inactivated virus samples. The detection sensitivity, variation in the result judgment, and responses to the questionnaire were compared. Positive detection was achieved with 16-fold dilution for Immunoace and 64-fold dilution for SPOTCHEM FLORA. SPOTCHEM FLORA showed no variation in the judgment, whereas Immunoace showed positive judgment rates of 23.5% for type A (0% confident) and 64.7% for type B (47.1% confident). The results of analysis of the responses to the questionnaire confirmed the merits of SPOTCHEM FLORA, such as confident judgment, reduction of input errors, and examination in parallel with other work. The introduction of SPOTCHEM FLORA not only increased sensitivity and standardized criteria for influenza tests, but also improved work efficiency, such as parallel execution with other work.