NOV 06, 2019 1:30 PM PST

Impact of the cobas Liat® Flu Assay on Clinical Decision Making in the Emergency Department Setting (Clade Study Group)

Speaker
  • Glen Hansen, PhD

    Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Minnesota, and Director of Clinical Microbiology, Hennepin Medical Center
    BIOGRAPHY

Abstract

Respiratory viral infections remain a leading cause of medical visits and can contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. Influenza, together with pneumonia, is the leading infectious cause of death in Canada and the United States, and is of particular concern especially in individuals with secondary risk factors. As "influenza season" approaches each year, hospitals and healthcare organizations review and update testing algorithms in attempts to maximize clinical useful testing, staffing issues, sensitivity, and rising health care costs. Despite decades of diagnostic research into laboratory and clinic based influenza testing, no one single diagnostic algorithm has emerged as a one size-fits-all strategy. Clinical decision making and subsequent patient management for patients who present to busy emergency departments during flu season is not always straight forward. Recently the COBAS LIAT Influenza assay was recently approved by the FDA for diagnosis of Influenza A/B virus. The test represents among the first truly rapid multiplex molecular PCR-based assays that can simultaneously detect and discriminate influenza A and influenza B RNA in nasopharyngeal specimens. While the prospects of reliable rapid influenza diagnostics have been examined before, few studies have attempted to correlate in real time the immediate impact of influenza assays, and no study assessing the clinical utility of LIAT during influenza season has been performed to date. Objectives: 1. Introduce the historical challenges of test options for influenza testing in hospital settings 2. Describe the performance and test characteristics of the Cobas® Liat influenza A/B assay on emergency department patients who presented with influenza-like-illness during the 2015 influenza season 3. Demonstrate the impact that rapid reliable influenza testing within emergency department settings have on patient management


NOV 06, 2019 1:30 PM PST

Impact of the cobas Liat® Flu Assay on Clinical Decision Making in the Emergency Department Setting (Clade Study Group)