Gray JJ, Kohli E, Ruggeri FM, Vennema H, Sánchez-Fauquier A, Schreier E, Gallimore CI, Iturriza-Gómara M, Giraudon H, Pothier P, Di Bartolo I, Inglese N, de Bruin E, van der Veer B, Moreno S, Montero V, de Llano MC, Höhne M, Diedrich S (2007): European multicenter evaluation of commercial enzyme immunoassays for detecting norovirus antigen in fecal samples
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. 14 (10): 1349-1355.

A total of 2,254 fecal samples were tested in a European multicenter evaluation of commercially available norovirus antigen detection assays. Two commercial enzyme immunoassays, IDEIA Norovirus (Oxoid; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Ely, United Kingdom) and RIDASCREEN Norovirus (R-Biopharm, Darmstadt, Germany), were included in the evaluation, and their performance was compared with the results of reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Included in the evaluation were samples collected in sporadic cases of gastroenteritis, samples from outbreaks in which two or more samples were collected, well-characterized samples representing genotypes currently cocirculating within Europe, and samples collected from patients with gastroenteritis caused by a pathogen other than norovirus. The sensitivities and specificities of the IDEIA Norovirus and RIDASCREEN Norovirus assays were 58.93 and 43.81% and 93.91 and 96.37%, respectively, compared with RT-PCR. The sensitivities of both assays for outbreak investigations improved when six or more samples from an outbreak were examined. The IDEIA Norovirus assay exhibited reactivity to a broader range of norovirus genotypes than the RIDASCREEN Norovirus assay, which showed genotype-dependent sensitivities. The results indicate that, if used, these assays should serve as screening assays and the results should be confirmed by RT-PCR.