ArcDia International Ltd, a manufacturer of mariPOC - the world's first multianalyte point-of-care diagnostics test for respiratory tract infections, has announced the first antigen test for human bocavirus type 1 is now commercially available on ArcDia's mariPOC test platform.

Bocavirus is a DNA virus found in 2005. The virus has ever since been a target of intensive clinical research. The results indicate that bocavirus is a common cause of acute respiratory tract infections particularly among children. Practically all people have suffered from bocavirus infection by the age of six. So far, bocavirus has been detected mainly by gene amplification methods, which are sensitive but result in high number of clinically insignificant positive findings. However, bocavirus has not been extensively diagnosed in clinical practice due to lack of accurate and rapid methods.

mariPOC is known as a highly specific antigen detection method for acute respiratory infections. High specificity is required to pick up clinically relevant true positive bocavirus infection cases. ArcDia offers the bocavirus test as a part of mariPOC respi multianalyte test, which hereby detects 10 clinically relevant viruses and bacteria from a single swab sample. The bocavirus antigen test is so far available only for research use.

"Launch of the world's first bocavirus rapid test is yet another demonstration that ArcDia's products are in the front line of science and diagnostics development in respiratory infectious diseases," says director of R&D Dr Janne Koskinen.

mariPOC provides multianalyte diagnostic results for influenza-like illnesses and tonsillitis in near patient settings in 20 minutes. The mariPOC applications are targeted for acute respiratory infections, the most common infectious disease on Earth. mariPOC is superior in performance compared to the conventional test methods, including lateral flow rapid tests and standard bacterial culture. mariPOC is designed to improve patient management and quality of health care and it allows timely pathogen-specific diagnostics and medication.

ArcDia International is the manufacturer of mariPOC, the world's first multianalyte point-of-care diagnostics test for respiratory tract infections.