Comparison of the Idylla™ Respiratory (IFV-RSV) panel with the GeneXpert Xpert® Flu/RSV assay: a retrospective study with nasopharyngeal and midturbinate samples

Abstract The objective of this study was to compare the performance of the Idylla™ Respiratory (IFV-RSV) panel to the GeneXpert Xpert® Flu/RSV assay and establish the performance of a midturbinate swab compared to nasopharyngeal sampling. Considering GeneXpert® assay as imperfect reference standard, a positive percentage agreement between both assays of 98–100% for influenza A and 96–99% for influenza B could be calculated when 354 nasopharyngeal and 325 midturbinate swabs were retrospectively analyzed. Comparing midturbinate samples to nasopharyngeal specimens of 321 subjects, positive percentage agreement varied from 42% to 94% depending on both target virus and assay used. Negative percentage agreements ranged from 98% to 100% for both methods and sample type comparison. The Idylla™ assay showed excellent performance compared to the GeneXpert® assay for the detection of influenza virus. The study also showed a slightly better performance for nasopharyngeal sampling compared to the use of a midturbinate swab.