COVID-19 pandemic emphasised the need for faster, cheaper, and more practical ways to screen for respiratory viruses. Especially in high-risk environments such as hospitals, nursing homes, and health care facilities. Moreover, athough PCR tests are considered the gold standard for identifying viral infections, they are expensive, time-consuming, and often require separate tests for different viruses. This makes regular testing difficult.
A new study from Yale School of Medicine has identified a promising alternative that could greatly reduce the need for PCR testing. Researchers tested nasal swabs for the presence of an antiviral protein naturally produced by the immune system when the body detects infection. Because this protein appears as part of the body’s defense response, it may help identify a wide range of respiratory infections just with a single screening method.
The research involved more than 1,000 participants, including adults and children with and without viral infections. Scientists compared the results of traditional PCR testing with the immune-based screening method to determine how accurately it could identify infections.
The findings showed that the inexpensive screening approach could reduce the number of PCR tests needed by tenfold or more. Individuals who tested negative for the antiviral protein would likely not require additional PCR testing. Moreover, only those more likely to be infected would undergo further analysis.
According to senior researcher Ellen F. Foxman, this strategy could help improve outbreak control, lower testing costs, and support routine screening programs designed to reduce the spread of respiratory viruses in vulnerable populations.
“If you wanted to screen every person who walked through the door for every respiratory virus, it would be difficult and prohibitively expensive,”
said Foxman.
“But we also know that in some settings with close quarters—like military settings, health care and rehab facilities, or assisted living centers—an infected person who might be asymptomatic can spread the infection to others, including people at high risk of getting very sick from the virus.”
“So the question was, how do you triage testing in these settings? Most people aren’t going to have viruses, so you don’t want to do sophisticated, expensive tests on them. Ideally, you want a simple, inexpensive test that allows you to say, ‘Okay, you don’t have a virus, you can go on your way,’ and then focus further testing on the people who need it.”
