Cold – Cough – Fever
Must be the Flu… but it is not! What is it then?
As autumn and winter approach, the prevalence of respiratory infections increases significantly. With the colder temperatures, people spend more time indoors with less ventilation. This obviously favours the transmission of viruses. However, the symptoms of a classic “cold” – runny nose, cough, aching limbs and/or fever – can be caused by a variety of respiratory pathogens. This is why it is difficult to assign them correctly.
In immunocompetent adults, these symptoms are caused e.g. by influenza, SARS-CoV-2, rhinoviruses but also Mycoplasma pneumoniae or Bordetella.
In children, on the other hand, respiratory infections can manifest as fever, runny nose, cough and wheezing, indicating the presence of viruses such as rhinoviruses or adenoviruses, but also severe courses as a result of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection are not uncommon.
The stakes are higher in elderly or immunosuppressed patients, who are much more susceptible to severe complications such as pneumonia. Here, pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila or even Haemophilus influenzae are just as often causative as RSV.
It is a fact: for a targeted and effective treatment, a differential diagnosis of the pathogens is crucial.
This is why R-Biopharm offers a corresponding product portfolio in the field of respiratory infections. In order to support you in diagnosing the correct pathogen and thus enabling most effective patient treatment.
- Our RIDA®GENE real-time PCR products for manual processing can be used on all common cyclers. Uniform processes and a universal PCR profile allow the individual combination and processing of different assays in the same PCR run. In addition to multiplex assays for the detection of influenza, RSV or SARS-CoV-2, we also offer a special paediatric panel for the detection and differentiation of rhinovirus/ enterovirus/ parechovirus, bocavirus and adenovirus.
- To complement these manual assays, panels for respiratory diagnostics will soon also be available for our fully automated RIDA®UNITY system.
- Finally, the TandemPlex® panels from AusDiagnostics, focussing on syndromic testing especially, even allow parallel detection and differentiation of up to 40 different respiratory pathogens. The complete workflow can be mapped via clever, automatic and throughput-dependent system solutions.
