"Screening a patient population experiencing the onset of novel flu strains will be complicated by patients presenting with more common, but equally menacing, seasonal illnesses, such as pneumonia. Once a patient becomes infected by a respiratory virus they are vulnerable to successive infections by bacteria causing pneumonia," added Dr. Chun.

Typically pneumonia patients are treated with antibiotics, yet if a patient infected with bacterial pneumonia is treated with an antiviral drug, the patient can develop serious complications, especially more vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly and individuals with immuno-suppressed conditions.

In the mass screening setting, due to similar symptoms between various respiratory diseases, it can be critical to simultaneously diagnose both new influenza A and bacterial pneumonia to determine the right treatment. The usual detection process at hospitals for pneumonia is the culture method requiring 4-5 days for a result, and which may leave some bacteria undetected.

To remedy this situation Seegene has now developed bacterial pneumonia tests capable of simultaneously detecting viral pneumonia and the new Influenza A virus.

This past month, the Korean government approved Seegene's multiplex RT-PCR method as a confirmation test for social health insurance. More than 50 university hospitals, including Seoul National University hospital, and major reference laboratories adopted Seegene's Multiplex RT-PCR respiratory virus detection method.

SOURCE: Seegene