Early detection of viral etiologies of acute respiratory tract infections of patients
affects management and disease control in pediatric patients. In this study, the performance
of Anyplex II RV16 assay (Seegene, Seoul, Korea) was evaluated by comparing with viral
culture and direct immunofluorescence staining of clinical specimens for detection of
respiratory viruses in patients. A total of 168 respiratory specimens were collected from 122
patients from November 2012 to May 2013 at the time of admission to the University of
Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Anyplex II RV16 assay, viral
culture, and direct immunofluorescence staining were positive in 74.4%, 18.5% and 14.9% of
the specimens, respectively. HRV was the predominant virus detected by the Anyplex II RV16
assay. In 47 cases, two or more respiratory viruses were detected by the Anyplex II RV16
assay, which were missed by conventional methods. The performance of the Anyplex II RV16
assay was better than viral culture and direct immunofluorescence staining of clinical
specimens for the detection of respiratory viruses. The implementation of the Anyplex II
RV16 assay in hospital laboratories will provide rapid diagnosis of major viral infections of the
respiratory tract.