Development of Rapid Immunochromatographic Test for Hemagglutinin Antigen of H7 Subtype in Patients Infected with Novel Avian Influenza A (H7N9) Virus

BACKGROUND Since human infection with the novel H7N9 avian influenza virus was identified in China in March 2013, the relatively high mortality rate and possibility of human-to-human transmission have highlighted the urgent need for sensitive and specific assays for diagnosis of H7N9 infection. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We developed a rapid diagnostic test for the novel avian influenza A (H7N9) virus using anti-hemagglutinin (HA) monoclonal antibodies specifically targeting H7 in an immunochromatographic assay system. The assay limit of detection was 103.5 pfu/ml or 103TCID50 of H7N9 virus. The assay specifically detected H7N9 viral isolates and recombinant HA proteins of H7 subtypes including H7N7 and H7N9, but did not react with non-H7 subtypes including H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, H5N9, and H9N2. The detection sensitivity was 59.4% (19/32) for H7N9 patients confirmed by RT-PCR. Moreover, the highest sensitivity of 61.5% (16/26) was obtained when testing H7N9 positive sputum samples while 35.7% (5/14) of nasopharyngeal swabs and 20% (2/10) of fecal samples tested positive. No false positive detection was found when testing 180 H7N9 negative samples. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Our novel rapid assay can specifically detect H7 HA antigen, facilitating rapid diagnosis for prevention and control of the on-going H7N9 epidemic.