Evaluation of FilmArray respiratory panel multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay for detection of pathogens in adult outpatients with acute respiratory tract infection

Abstract

Although viruses are the major pathogen that causes upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and acute bronchitis, antibiotics have been prescribed. This was a prospective observational study in influenza epidemics that enrolled adult outpatients who visited a hospital with respiratory tract infection symptoms. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of FilmArray respiratory panel (RP). Fifty patients were enrolled. FilmArray RP detected the pathogens in 28 patients. The common pathogens were influenza virus (n = 14), respiratory syncytial virus (n = 6), and human rhinovirus (n = 6). Of the 14 patients with influenza virus, 6 were negative for the antigen test. The physicians diagnosed and treated the patients without the result of FilmArray in this study. Of the patients with positive FilmArray RP, 9 were treated with antibiotics; however, bacteria were detected in only 3 patients. By implementing FilmArray RP, URTI and acute bronchitis would be precisely diagnosed, and inappropriate use of antibiotics can be reduced.

Rapid detection of respiratory organisms with FilmArray respiratory panel and its impact on clinical decisions in Shanghai, China, 2016‐2018

“…This present study is one of the several that have examined the application of FA‐RP in Asia . Compared with other published studies, our study focused on adults with more severe pneumonia conditions, and to the best of our knowledge, it is the only study that has covered two consecutive pandemic seasons.…”

FilmArray respiratory panel assay: An effective method for detecting viral and atypical bacterial pathogens in bronchoscopy specimens

“…The results of this study demonstrate that the BioFire FA RP can reliably detect a broad range of respiratory pathogens when performed using specimens collected by bronchoscopy. Thus far, the majority of studies evaluating the performance of the FA RP were done using NP swabs (Andersson et al 2014;Babady et al 2018;Butt et al 2014;Hayden et al 2012;Kaku et al 2018;Loeffelholz et al 2011;Pierce et al 2012;Renaud et al 2012;Van Wesenbeeck et al 2013). Only a few studies have included LRT specimens, such as BAL and BAS, in addition to URT samples.…”

Point-of-care tests for influenza A and B viruses and RSV in emergency departments – indications, impact on patient management and possible gains by syndromic respiratory testing, Capital Region, Denmark, 2018

“…Previous studies agree that POCT for respiratory infections improve the targeted use of antiviral treatment [4,6,8,9,12], which is also supported by the present study. In contrast, the effect on prescription and duration of antibiotic treatment and hospitalisation time is debatable [4,5,[7][8][9][10][11]. Most studies support that prescription and duration of antibiotic treatment is not significantly reduced by POC testing [4,[7][8][9], and three studies found no reduction in duration of hospitalisation [7][8][9].…”

“…Studies have evaluated the benefits of POC testing for respiratory pathogens on patient management [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], but their conclusions are conflicting and the benefits for patient management are therefore not fully understood. Several studies found that POC testing may improve patient management by deferring hospital admission [3], reducing hospitalisation time [4,5], improving targeted use of antiviral treatment [4,[6][7][8][9]12], reducing prescription [10] and duration of antibiotic treatment [5], reducing in-hospital isolation time [8], improving use of side room isolation facilities [6] and decreasing overall costs of hospitalisation [3,5,12,13]. In contrast, other studies reported that POC testing for respiratory pathogens does not significantly reduce prescription or duration of antibiotics [4,[7][8][9]11], do not reduce hospitalisation time or defer admissions [7][8][9] and do not reduce the risk of death or readmission [4,7,8].…”