Evaluation of a commercial latex agglutination test for detecting rotavirus A and human adenovirus in children's stool specimens

OBJECTIVES: Rotavirus A and human adenovirus are the two most common causes of infantile diarrhea; thus, it is of great importance to find out a rapid and accurate diagnostic method. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic significance of latex agglutination test for detection of rotavirus A and human adenovirus. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted on 214 diarrhea children from September 2018 to March 2019 in our hospital. Fresh stool samples were collected for detection of rotavirus A and human adenovirus by latex agglutination test and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). Then, the consistency of results detected by these two methods was analyzed． RESULTS: With performing the latex agglutination test, it was revealed that positive rates for detecting rotavirus A virus and human adenovirus were 23.83% (51/214) and 25.24% (54/214), respectively. Meanwhile, results of RT‐qPCR showed that positive rates for detecting rotavirus A virus and human adenovirus were 58 (27.10%) and 59 (27.57%), respectively. Using RT‐qPCR as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of the latex agglutination test for detecting rotavirus A were 81.03% and 97.44%, and the corresponding values for detecting human adenovirus were 76.27% and 94.19%, respectively. CONCLUSION: This latex agglutination test showed a satisfactory consistency with RT‐qPCR for detecting rotavirus A and human adenovirus. The mentioned commercial assay may be highly appropriate for rapid screening of rotavirus A and human adenovirus.