Table 3. Test results of the six commercial kits for MERS-CoV RNA detection using a high inhibition panel.

No.	Specimen type	Expected result	Interpretation or Ct value if positive
			PoD-IC	PoD-upE	PoD-ORF1a	DiT-IC	DiT-upE	DiT-ORF1a	DiT-ORF1b	AnS-IC	AnS-upE	LiS-IC*	LiS-upE	LiS-ORF1a	AcS-IC*	AcS-upE	AcS-ORF1a	UlS-IC*	UlS-upE	UlS-ORF1a
10	Sputum	P	22.9	27.2	28.5	In	20.3	23.2	27.9	29.4	21.6	26.6	28.5	28.0	30.0	29.1	32.4	In	21.4	24.0
11	Sputum	P	28.4	34.5	35.7	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	In	Inv	32.1(U)	38.3(U)	N	29.7	N	N	In	Inv	Inv
12	Sputum	P	30.2	N	N	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	In	Inv	31.1(U)	N	5(U)	31.7	N	N	In/31.6	Inv	Inv
13	Sputum	P	24.1	25.1	25.6	In	20.1	21.7	26.0	In	Inv	26.9	29.7	29.7	29.6	32.5	35.8	In	31.6	31.6
14	Sputum	P	22.4	N	N	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	In	Inv	28.6	U/5	5(U)	29.4	N	N	In	Inv	Inv
15	Sputum	P	27.2	N	N	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	In	Inv	31.0(U)	38.7(Inv)	N	30.3	N	N	In/29.2	Inv	Inv
16	Sputum	N	30.8	N	N	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	In	Inv	26.1	27.4(U)	N	29.8	N	N	In/28.4	Inv	Inv
17	Sputum	N	26.6	N	N	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	In	Inv	26.8	N	N	30.9	N	N	25.0	N	N
18	Sputum	N	30.7	N	N	In	Inv	Inv	Inv	38.8	N	26.8	N	N	30.4	N	N	23.3	N	N

^*The internal control Ct value was determined using an rRT-PCR reaction for upE. However, the internal control Ct values in the rRT-PCR reactions for both upE and ORF1a were denoted with UltraFast single if one was positive and the other was negative.

Abbreviations: In, inhibition; Inv, invalid; U, uncertain; other abbreviations are as defined in Table 2.