The Coris BioConcept COVID 19 Ag Respi-Strip, a field experience feedback.

This communication described how the Coris BioConcept COVID-19 Ag Respi-Strip test (Coris-Ag) was implemented in the workflow of our clinical microbiology laboratory for COVID-19 diagnosis. The diagnostic performance statistics (sensitivity, specificity) of the Coris-Ag were evaluated against a gold standard, the RealStar SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR kit 1.0. Additionally, the effect of reading the Coris-Ag results at 30 min was compared to reading at 15 min. The Coris-Ag was performed on a total of 294 patients during two periods; 158 patients were tested during period 1 at the peak of the pandemic (April 6th to April 10th 2020) which returned a positivity rate of 17.1 %, and 136 patients during period 2 (April 12th to April 16th 2020) which returned a positivity rate of 11 %. Compared to the RT-PCR, the 15-minute Coris-Ag readings resulted in a sensitivity of 59.3 % with a 100 % specificity for the period 1 patients (n = 158) while the sensitivity decreased to 20 % for the period 2 patients (n = 136). The overall sensitivity was 38.1 % for both periods (n = 294). The corresponding 30-minute readings produced a 7 % increase in sensitivity with a specificity of 100 % (n = 294). The sensitivity of the strip test (15-min reading) for high viral loads (Ct <25) was 84.6 %.

High conservation of varicella-zoster virus helicase-primase complex, the target of the new antiviral drug amenamevir.

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) resistance to current antiviral drugs, that all target the viral DNA polymerase, represents a growing concern, notably among immunocompromised patients. Amenamevir, a novel antiviral that inhibits the VZV helicase-primase (HP) complex, is approved in Japan for the treatment of herpes zoster. In this study, we describe the low natural polymorphism of VZV HP complex (interstrain identity >99.7% both at nucleotide and amino acid levels) among 44 VZV clinical isolates. This work enabled to settle the maps of natural polymorphisms of VZV HP complex and to provide the genotypic tools for the monitoring of the emergence of VZV resistance to amenamevir in patients.