ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Comparative Evaluation of RNA Isothermal Amplification-Gold Probe Lateral Flow Assay and Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing for the Detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Influenza A and B Viruses in Children
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fujian Children's Hospital, Fzuhou, China
- 2Fujian Children's Hospital, Fuzhou, China
- 3Fuzhou KingMed for Clinical Laboratory Co.,Ltd, Fzuhou, China
- 4Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Fuzhou, China
- 5Nan'an Hospital, Fuzhou, China
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Objectives: This study aimed to compare the positive detection rates of RNA Isothermal Amplification-Gold Probe Lateral Flow Technology (RGT) and Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing (tNGS) for Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) and Influenza A/B viruses in children with acute respiratory infections (ARIs), and to explore their respective advantages and disadvantages. Methods: Clinical and laboratory data of pediatric patients with ARIs undergoing concurrent RGT and tNGS testing (Jan–Sep 2024) were collected. McNemar's test compared detection rates, and Cohen's kappa coefficient assessed the agreement of the result of between the two methods. Results: For detecting MP and Influenza B virus, tNGS showed a significantly higher positivity rate than RGT. However, there is no difference between tNGS and RGT in the positive detection rate of Influenza A. The agreement between tNGS and RGT was good for MP detection, but only moderate for Influenza A/B virus detection. Conclusions: tNGS offers high-throughput, high-sensitivity screening, while RGT is rapid, user-friendly, cost-effective and superior for identifying active infections and monitoring treatment responses. Optimal method selection is dependent on clinical scenarios and diagnostic priorities.
Keywords: acute respiratory infections, Children, Influenza Virus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, RNA Isothermal Amplification-Gold Probe LateralFlow Technology, Targeted next-generationsequencing
Received: 07 Nov 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Bin, Wei, Dong, Lu, Deng and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Canwei Chen
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