Biofire Spotfire

"These findings indicate a post-pandemic rise in macrolide-resistant B. pertussis in Japan. Ongoing resistance surveillance is essential, and repurposing residual clinical samples after routine testing is useful given culture and detection challenges."

"In this real-world evaluation conducted in a public pediatric hospital, the BIOFIRE SPOTFIRE R Panel improved significatively the diagnostic certainty and supported safer outpatient management, reducing hospital pressure during the period of highest respiratory demand. Beyond its clinical benefits, the intervention contributed to a more rational use of healthcare resources, aligning with national priorities in antimicrobial stewardship and optimization of emergency services. While limited in scope and duration, the study provides compelling evidence that rapid syndromic testing may play a strategic role in strengthening pediatric respiratory care pathways in Latin America."

"Combining POC testing with an antimicrobial stewardship intervention resulted in reduced antibiotic prescribing in an urgent care setting. Implementation of POC testing could enhance ongoing efforts to encourage appropriate prescribing practices through clinical education, guideline implementation, and stewardship programs."

"Rapid multiplex PCR testing was associated with reduced antibiotic prescribing for viral infections, shorter ED LOS, high provider confidence, and high patient satisfaction. These findings support the value of ultra-rapid diagnostics for antimicrobial stewardship and patient-centered care in the ED."

"In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the updated M10 Fast assay reliably detects influenza A/B, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 with high sensitivity and specificity, offering improved detection of low viral loads. Its enhanced performance and faster turnaround time support timely clinical decision-making and public health responses, particularly during periods of influenza, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 cocirculation."

In summary, the comparison shows that while most molecular platforms are highly reliable, the Cepheid Xpert Xpress and Roche Cobas Liat emerge as the most sensitive rapid options, consistently meeting the strictest limits of detection. In contrast, multiplex platforms like the BioMerieux BioFire, Qiagen QIAstat-Dx, and GenMark ePlex offer broader diagnostic reach but sometimes sacrifice sensitivity or fail to provide viral load data (Ct values). While devices such as the Credo Diagnostics VitaPCR and MobiDiag Novodiag provide speed, they show limitations in detecting low viral loads compared to high-throughput laboratory kits like ThermoFisher TaqPath or Seegene Allplex, which remain the gold standard for large-scale, resilient testing.

The QIAstat-Dx® GIP2 demonstrates high diagnostic accuracy compared to the Allplex™ GI, BIOFIRE® GI, and Xpert® Norovirus assays. With an overall 95.02% PPA and 99.98% PNA, the GIP2 proved exceptionally reliable for bacterial and parasitic targets, showing lower CT values than the Allplex™ assays. Despite a slightly lower viral sensitivity of 88.3%, the GIP2 remains a robust tool for rapid syndromic testing from Fecalswab® specimens.

" All 3 assays [BIOFIRE® SPOTFIRE® Respiratory/Sore Throat (R/ST) Panel (BioMérieux), Xpert® Xpress SARS-CoV-2/Flu/RSV assay (Cepheid) and Cobas® SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B assay (Roche) to detect Flu A/ B, SARS CoV-2 and RSV from nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS)] showed 95 % agreement for Flu A and B detection; performance for SARS-CoV-2 detection varied. SPOTFIRE provides an advantage of detecting additional respiratory pathogens. Overall, the assays were easy to perform with minimum technical skill."

The SPOTFIRE R/ST Panel provides high-accuracy molecular results for 15 respiratory pathogens in just 17 minutes. This study confirms its excellent performance, showing 100% agreement with reference methods for both nasopharyngeal and throat swabs, including the reliable detection of Streptococcus pyogenes. By combining PCR sensitivity with the speed of an antigen test, this point-of-care tool enables immediate clinical decisions, potentially improving antimicrobial stewardship and patient flow in emergency settings.

"The performance of the SPOTFIRE R Panel was comparable to that of the RP2.1plus."