This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Influenza surveillance with rapid test network a ‘win-win’ situation
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Researchers have developed a method to transmit rapid influenza detection test results wirelessly, which may help realize the “long-sought after goal of real-time influenza surveillance,” according to findings in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
“Public health in the United States is vastly underfunded and has been losing ground,” Jonathan L. Temte, MD, PhD, chair, Wisconsin Council on Immunization Practices, told Healio Family Medicine. “Having alternative methods for public health surveillance that can be easily implemented at low cost and have accurate and reliable results, provides redundancy to the system and enhances surveillance by having the sensibilities of frontline clinicians.”
Temte and colleagues recruited and trained more than 250 clinicians and clinician staff members from 19 primary care clinics in Wisconsin on the FDA-approved Quidel Sofia Influenza A + B Rapid Influenza Detection Test analyzer. Each clinic received one of the analyzers, which was attached to a wireless router that immediately sent the patient’s age and results to a surveillance team for its weekly review via a cloud-based server.
The researchers compared positive influenza A and B detections from rapid test with positive polymerase chain reaction detections obtained from a different, independent surveillance system also used in Wisconsin.
They found that the rapid test surveillance system showed “excellent comparability” with the existing surveillance system. The system also resulted in “early detection” of Wisconsin’s influenza outbreak during the 2013 to 2014 season. Also, the influenza peak and epidemic curve between the two systems were similar.
“This technology could be inserted rapidly into busy primary care practices, most of which were not using any [rapid influenza detection tests]. Despite the time encumbrances imposed by a new research protocol, contract negotiations, eight separate [Institutional Review Board] reviews, recruiting, equipment deployment, and training, we achieved a functional surveillance network in very little time,” researchers wrote.
In the interview, Temte added that other benefits of the rapid test include potentially reducing inappropriate antibiotic use, improving influenza vaccine use, getting insurance reimbursement when used on the appropriate patients, and choosing better preventive and therapeutic interventions.
He told Healio Family Medicine how physicians can decide if the system is right for their practice.
“The critical question that a physician or clinic manager must answer is whether they would want to use a rapid influenza test in their clinic,” Temte, who is also a professor of the department of family medicine and community health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said. “He or she should also engage in a conversation with their local or state public health department to assess whether this approach would fit into existing systems.”
“This system can be a ‘win-win’ approach for clinics and public health,” he said. – by Janel Miller
Disclosures: Temte reports employment by and receiving research funding from the Quidel Corporation and that the Quidel Corporation did not direct or exert any influence over the manuscript. The rest of the authors report no relevant financial disclosures.