Rapid Antigen and Antibody Microfluidic Immunofluorescence Assays Compared to Culture, PCR, and Laboratory Reference Tests: Performance in a Longitudinal Cohort.

Dalmat, Ronit R; Hao, Linhui; Prabhu, Roshni; Rechkina, Elena; Hamilton, Daphne; Ikuma, Matthew H; Bauer, Marie; Gale, Michael et al. · J Infect Dis · 2023

prospective_cohort · Level II

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Abstract

We evaluated the performance of rapid antigen (RAg) and antibody (RAb) microfluidic diagnostics with serial sampling of 71 participants at 6 visits over 2 months following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Rapid tests showed strong agreement with laboratory references (κAg = 81.0%; κAb = 87.8%). RAg showed substantial concordance to both virus growth in culture and PCR positivity 0-5 days since symptom onset (κAg-culture = 60.1% and κAg-PCR = 87.1%). PCR concordance to virus growth in culture was similar (κPCR-culture = 70.0%), although agreement between RAg and culture was better overall (κAg-culture = 45.5% vs κPCR-culture = 10.0%). Rapid antigen and antibody testing by microfluidic immunofluorescence platform are highly accurate for characterization of acute infection.

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