Evaluation of Immunochromatographic Rapid Test for Norovirus

Evaluation of Immunochromatographic Rapid Test for Norovirus

Noroviruses are the major viral pathogen in domestic diarrhea outbreaks. About 40% of the diarrhea outbreaks wereattributed tonorovirus infection. Because ofits high infectiousness, a rapid and accurate detection methodis key tothe control ofnorovirusoutbreaks. In this study, we randomly selected 101 fecal samples from21 diarrhea outbreaks from January to June 2018 to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of RIDA® QUICK Norovirus test. The sensitivity of the rapid test was67.2%, and the specificity was100%. Positive test resultsconfirm the existence of norovirus in fecal samples, but negative test results still needs to be further confirmed by the real-time RT-PCRas the gold standard. Therefore, rapid testsprovide a quick preliminary screening, but still cannot replace real-time RT-PCR in laboratories. In order to avoid false negative results that lead to the expansion of the epidemic, submittingthe specimens to the laboratory for further confirmationas soon as possibleis still necessary.