Current Approaches for Diagnosis of Influenza Virus Infections in Humans

Sai Vikram Vemula; Jiangqin Zhao; Jikun Liu; Xue Wang; Santanu Biswas; Indira Hewlett

doi:10.3390/v8040096

Current Approaches for Diagnosis of Influenza Virus Infections in Humans

Viruses. 2016 Apr 12;8(4):96. doi: 10.3390/v8040096.

Authors

Sai Vikram Vemula¹, Jiangqin Zhao², Jikun Liu³, Xue Wang⁴, Santanu Biswas⁵, Indira Hewlett⁶

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. vikisai@gmail.com.
² Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. jiangqin.zhao@fda.hhs.gov.
³ Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. Jikun.Liu@fda.hhs.gov.
⁴ Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. Xue.Wang@fda.hhs.gov.
⁵ Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. Santanu.Biswas@fda.hhs.gov.
⁶ Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. Indira.hewlett@fda.hhs.gov.

Abstract

Despite significant advancement in vaccine and virus research, influenza continues to be a major public health concern. Each year in the United States of America, influenza viruses are responsible for seasonal epidemics resulting in over 200,000 hospitalizations and 30,000-50,000 deaths. Accurate and early diagnosis of influenza viral infections are critical for rapid initiation of antiviral therapy to reduce influenza related morbidity and mortality both during seasonal epidemics and pandemics. Several different approaches are currently available for diagnosis of influenza infections in humans. These include viral isolation in cell culture, immunofluorescence assays, nucleic acid amplification tests, immunochromatography-based rapid diagnostic tests, etc. Newer diagnostic approaches are being developed to overcome the limitations associated with some of the conventional detection methods. This review discusses diagnostic approaches currently available for detection of influenza viruses in humans.

Keywords: Immunoassay; Influenza diagnostics; Influenza viruses; hemaglutinin; neuraminidase; next-generation sequencing (NGS); subtype.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Culture Techniques
Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct
Humans
Immunoassay
Influenza, Human / diagnosis*
Influenza, Human / virology*
Lab-On-A-Chip Devices
Molecular Diagnostic Techniques
Orthomyxoviridae / genetics*
Orthomyxoviridae / immunology*
Orthomyxoviridae / isolation & purification
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Serologic Tests