Aim of the study: To evaluate immunocapture-Elisa (ICE) sensitivity versus RT-PCR in diagnosis of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus infection.
Methods: Sixty-seven RT-PCR-negative and 282 RT-PCR-positive nasopharyngeal swabs collected during winter 2009-2010 have been analyzed using ICE.
Results: Among all the samples tested, a sensitivity of 31.3% was found for ICE. The sensitivity of ICE was directly correlated to the virus load determined through the number of cycling reactions necessary to reach detection by RT-PCR.
Conclusion: ICE can be a suitable method compared to RT-PCR when RT-PCR cannot be used for economical or epidemiological reasons. Its sensitivity is largely dependent of the nasopharyngeal sampling quality.
Keywords: A(H1N1)pdm09; RT-PCR; immunocapture.