Photo Credit: Peter Hansen

Paired serology testing, standard-of-care (SOC) swab results, and separate testing of nasopharyngeal (NP) and oropharyngeal (OP) swabs improved RSV diagnostic yield among hospitalized adults, according to results published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Christina A. Rostad, MD, and colleagues enrolled adults aged 50 and older, hospitalized with acute respiratory illness (ARI) and adults of any age hospitalized with congestive heart failure or COPD exacerbations, obtaining NP and OP swabs (n=1,558), acute and convalescent sera (n=568), and expectorated sputum (n=153), and recorded SOC NP results (n=805). Of 1,558 participants, 92 (5.9%) tested positive for RSV by any diagnostic method. Combined NP/OP PCR testing yielded 58 positive results; separate NP and OP testing found 11 additional positives, representing an 18.9% increase. Compared with NP/OP PCR alone, adding paired serology improved RSV recognition by 42.9% among those with both specimen types, while the addition of SOC swab PCR increased RSV detection by 25.9%.