Table 1. Recommendations for clinical use of rapid nucleic acid amplification tests for influenza.

Clinical assay recommendation	Influenza prevalent season	Non-influenza prevalent season
High (should be tested)	1. Patients presenting with influenza-like symptoms and with high-risk factors (such as senility, immunosuppression, etc.) 2. Patients with respiratory distress and high clinical probability of complications (pneumonia, shock, myocarditis, encephalitis, etc.)
Medium (consider testing)	1. Patients without risk factors but with influenza-like symptoms and (1) require a decision on antiviral or antibiotic therapy; (2) require hospitalization 2. Elderly patients without influenza-like symptoms and with shortness of breath, confusion, heart failure, or acute deterioration of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	No high-risk factors, with influenza-like symptoms
Low (In principle, no testing is required)	Patients without high-risk factors but with influenza-like symptoms are eligible for direct clinical diagnosis without testing	Patients with respiratory tract infections without influenza-like symptoms without high-risk factors