Quick new test for viruses

Nasal swab may be an easy, inexpensive way to diagnose

A sniffle. A cough. A moan of discomfort.

It’s the symphony of the season — the sound of someone with a viral upper respiratory illness. They can be miserable, but Yale University researchers might have found a way to determine more quickly whether an infection is viral, allowing doctors to treat it more effectively.

According to the Yale research, a new test that measures Ribonucleic acid or protein molecules in human cells can accurately identify viral infection as a cause of respiratory symptoms. Performed with a simple nasal swab, the test might be a quicker, cheaper way to diagnose respiratory viral illnesses than current methods, said study author Dr. Ellen Foxman, professor of laboratory medicine at the Yale School of Medicine.

“There are so many viruses that cause respiratory symptoms, and it can be cumbersome to test for all of them,” she said.

But, Foxman said, while coughing and the like can be caused by a variety of viruses, the body fights them all in relatively the same way. So she and study coauthor Dr. Marie Landry screened human nasal cells for proteins and RNAs that increase when a virus is present. RNA is a molecule that plays various biological roles in the coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes.

Foxman and Landry identified three RNAs and two proteins that are activated by a virus. The researchers eventually found that RNAs and proteins could both

“There are so many viruses ... it can be cumbersome to test for all of them.” Dr. Ellen Foxman, study author

accurately predict respiratory viral infections — including infection by viruses not identified in most lab tests. There are multiple benefits to having a test that can quickly identify whether an infection is viral.

“One reason is that it helps out patients who are very sick and have a variety of health problems, and it’s unclear why they’re having respiratory symptoms,” Foxman said.

Another important upside of the test is that it could help limit the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics. Although antibiotics only work on bacterial infections,

they are often incorrectly prescribed for viral infections.

“There’s a big problem with antibiotic overuse,” Foxman said. “Taking antibiotics when you don’t need them can be harmful, especially for kids.”

Foxman and Landry have a patent pending on the test, and the eventual goal is for it to become a widely used diagnostic tool.

“The next step is to make something transportable that can be used in doctor’s offices,” Foxman said.

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