New MERS-CoV laboratory test: takes 10-minutes but what can it tell you?

Back in June we heard of a quick test for MERS-CoV to add to the diagnostic armamentarium. I posted on it here.

Now that the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress & Exhibition it was presented at is over, we are hearing about it again through a story at The National. 

Still no details though, so my original concerns about sensitivity (how often will it miss true positive cases because it is not sensitive enough?) linger on.

Further, it's a "blood test" that also uses DNA amplification so the patient will presumably need to be sick enough to have a viraemia (virus spilling over into the blood) so it may not help at all for screening contacts or less ill people with lower viral loads. It is being described as useful for "identifying the virus in its early stages". 

Another assay that looks similar, described in PLoSONE by these researchers earlier in the year, does not appear comparable to PCR-based methods in terms of its sensitivity. 

For MERS-CoV, as for any newly emerging pathogen with unknown characteristics spreading in ways we are yet to understand, detection sensitivity is a key factor.

I look forward to seeing same real-world evaluation data.

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Isothermal DNA MERS-CoV test

Laurie Garret noted this article about a new, relatively easy to use bedside test to be described at the upcoming Abu Dhabi Medical Congress.

The key piece of information here, as it sometimes is with bedside (Point of Care or POC) testing, is how its real-world (using clinical samples) sensitivity ranks against other testing methods. False negatives provide a sense of false security that can be disastrous for infectious disease management. Also, the types of sample that can be collected at the bedside are presumably weighted towards easier-to-access upper airway secretions. That will not play well for any virus that may be found more often in the lower airways at presentation.

Let's hope the test fits the bill. Fast, sensitive, specific and reasonably priced testing would make great inroads into infectious disease control. Time, and more information, will tell.

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