Amid the rise in the number of H3N2 influenza cases in India, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a new RT-qPCR test kit that can detect influenza – including H1N1, H3N2, Yamagata and Victoria sublineages – along with Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The has been developed by Chennai-based KRIYA Medical technologies. The kit has been named KRIVIDA Trivus.
The approval of the kit is crucial as several states are reporting a significant rise in these viruses.
All these three pathogens have very identical symptoms during the initial phase but differ in how the illness progresses, how easily they spread, and how they are treated.
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The kid, KRIVIDA Trivus, can distinguish influenza, coronavirus and respiratory syncytial virus very effectively and that too within the shortest turnaround time or TAT. The cycle time of the kit is just 27 minutes. However, the time taken for the result to be read can vary between 50-60 minutes. The company said that this can enable an immediate line of treatment.
The good thing about the kit is that it can be used in all the available RT-PCR equipment.
The kit was evaluated at the National Institute of Virology, Pune by ICMR. For evaluating the kit, the ICMR tested 225 known positive samples and 85 negative samples. While the overall sensitivity of KRIVIDA Trivus is over 99 per cent (99.11 to be precise), the specificity of the kit is exactly100 per cent.
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“Over the last several weeks, we have seen an increase in the number of H3N2 cases, as well as a rise in the number of Covid-19 infections in the country. Therefore, there is a need for a test that can easily differentiate between these infections. This will help health care providers to create the right treatment plan,” said Anu Moturi, CEO and Founder, of KRIYA Medical Technologies, in a statement.
