Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia’s Georgia Esoteric and Molecular Laboratory, working with Illimina, a biotech firm based in California, have created a testing panel to detect COVID-19, flu and multiple other common respiratory viruses.
The panel can test for 41 common viruses, like the common cold, RSV and influenza, along with COVID-19.
“Having that information will be very valuable to manage certain critical populations like nursing homes, immunocompromised individuals, ICUs, where there’s a constant exposure of pathogen in a suboptimal immune system,” said Dr. Ravindra Kolhe, director of the GEM.
Prior to 2020, when a patient went to a health care provider with symptoms of a respiratory virus, the most common test — particularly later in the year — was for the flu.
Then COVID-19 arrived in the U.S., and everything changed.
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The focus turned to testing for SARS-CoV-2. Fortunately, taking steps to protect against the virus, like mask-wearing, social distancing and hand washing, made flu cases almost non-existent in 2020. Just 0.8% of the 483 patients in a study at MCG presented with the flu.
Health care experts anticipate that will change this year, creating a need for a way to test for multiple respiratory viruses at the same time.
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In South Carolina, the Department of Health and Environmental Control uses a test that detects COVID-19 and two kinds of flu, influenza A and B.
“The CDC Influenza SARS-CoV-2 (Flu SC2) Multiplex Assay is a real-time test that checks for both COVID-19 and flu. The CDC recommends labs that routinely test for both use this test. That said, there are other, separate testing options for COVID-19 and flu,” said DHEC public information officer Derrek Asberry.
Kolhe said the test his lab worked on has another advantage. It can detect variants, and not just for novel coronavirus.
“You have to remember that the flu, as well as other respiratory viruses also have variants. And these variants do change every year. And that’s why we get a new booster flu every year because these variants change,” he said.
Kolhe said having that information on a regular basis gives health care providers a way to watch all viruses that appear in the community.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
