Automated processing, extraction and detection of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2: A comparative evaluation of three commercial platforms using clinical specimens.

BACKGROUND: Recently, automated platforms have been developed that can perform processing, extraction and testing for herpes simplex virus (HSV) nucleic acid on a single instrument.
OBJECTIVES: In this study, we compared three commercially-available systems; Aptima®/Panther (Hologic, San Diego, CA), ARIES® (Luminex Corporation, Austin, TX), and cobas® 4800 (Roche Molecular Systems Inc, Pleasanton, CA) for the qualitative detection of HSV-1/2 in clinical samples. STUDY
DESIGN: Two-hundred seventy-seven specimens (genital [n=193], dermal [n=84]) were submitted for routine HSV-1/2 real-time PCR by a laboratory developed test. Following routine testing, samples were also tested by the Aptima, ARIES, and cobas HSV-1/2 assays per the manufacturer's recommendations. Results were compared to a "consensus standard" defined as the result obtained from ≥3 of the 4 assays.
RESULTS: Following testing of 277 specimens, the cobas and ARIES assays demonstrated a sensitivity of 100% for HSV-1 (61/61) and HSV-2 (55/55). The Aptima assays showed a sensitivity of 91.8% (56/61) for HSV-1 and 90.9% (50/55) for HSV-2. Percent specificities for HSV-1 were 96.2% (202/210) by cobas, 99.5% (209/210) by ARIES and 100% (236/236) by Aptima. For HSV-2, the specificities were 98.1% (211/215) by cobas, 99.5% (215/216) by ARIES and 100% (216/216) by Aptima. The turnaround time for testing 24 samples was 2.5h by the cobas 4800, 3.1h by Aptima/Panther, and 3.9h by ARIES.
CONCLUSIONS: The three commercial systems can perform all current functions on a single platform, thereby improving workflow and potentially reducing errors associated with manual processing of samples.