Evaluation of Performance Among Norovirus Antigen Detection Kits with Immunochromatography

Abstract

We have evaluated the performance among four brands of immunochromatography (IC) assay kits, available in the market in Japan, for detection of norovirus antigen and compared with Real Time PCR (RT-PCR) assays. The four brands used were ImmunoCatch-Noro (A Kit, EIKEN CHEMICAL Co., Ltd., Japan), Quick Chaser-Noro (B Kit, MIZUHO MEDY Co., Ltd., Saga, Japan), GE test Noro Nissui (C Kit, NISSUI PHARMACEUTICAL Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), and Quick Navi-Noro2 (D Kit, DENKA SEIKEN Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). The results from the RT-PCR analysis of 69 suspected cases of norovirus infection identified 6 cases of Genogroup I (GI) and 22 cases of Genogroup II (GII) infection, whereas one case among them had a mixed infection of both GI and GII. The virus titers of the positive samples varied from 1.54×10 1 to 3.14× 10 8 copies/ μ L. The genotypes identified were as follows：GI, GI.1 (1 case each), GI.2 (3 cases), and GI.3 (2 cases)；GII, GII.2 (1 case each), GII.4 (7 cases), GII.13 (2 cases), and GII.17 (12 cases). The positive concordance rates between the IC assay kits and the Real Time RT-PCR were as follows：A, 59.3 % ；B, 51.9 % ；C, 51.9 % ；and