Table 2.
The specificity of the Biomeme and Precision Biomonitoring SARS-CoV-2 tests.
| Confirmed pathogen | Biomeme SARS-CoV-2 test | Precision Biomonitoring TripleLock SARS-CoV-2 test | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orf1ab gene | S gene | RNA process control | 5′UTR gene | E gene | RNaseP (averaged) | |
| Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) | 12.60 | 12.78 | No Ct* | 14.27 | 11.17 | 41.12 |
| Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1) | No Ct | No Ct | 26.15 | 16.38 | 13.26 | 29.20 |
| Middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus | No Ct | No Ct | 26.44 | No Ct | No Ct | 30.95 |
| Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) Iowa | No Ct | No Ct | 31.44 | – | – | – |
| Pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) virus | No Ct | No Ct | 29.76 | – | – | – |
| Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) Colorado | No Ct | No Ct | 31.98 | – | – | – |
| Transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) virus F-216 | No Ct | No Ct | 31.21 | – | – | – |
| Influenza A H3N2 | No Ct | No Ct | 25.87 | No Ct | No Ct | 26.29 |
| Influenza A H1N1 | No Ct | No Ct | 27.11 | No Ct | No Ct | 28.41 |
| Rhinovirus (ENR/RHV) | No Ct | No Ct | 13.34** | No Ct | No Ct | 30.40 |
| Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) | No Ct | No Ct | 26.56 | No Ct | No Ct | 27.65 |
| Human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E) | No Ct | No Ct | 27.62 | No Ct | No Ct | 23.91 |
| Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) | No Ct | No Ct | 26.79 | No Ct | No Ct | 27.57 |
| Human coronavirus HKU1 (HCoV-HKU1) | No Ct | No Ct | 25.24 | No Ct | No Ct | 27.07 |
| Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) | No Ct | No Ct | 25.59 | No Ct | No Ct | 29.73 |
| Parainfluenza virus 1 (PIV-1) | No Ct | No Ct | 12.25** | No Ct | No Ct | 26.77 |
| Parainfluenza virus 2 (PIV-2) | No Ct | No Ct | 12.94** | No Ct | No Ct | 26.99 |
| Parainfluenza virus 3 (PIV-3) | No Ct | No Ct | 11.23** | No Ct | No Ct | 27.50 |
| Parainfluenza virus 4 (PIV-4) | No Ct | No Ct | 12.61** | No Ct | No Ct | 29.64 |
| Respiratory syncytial virus A (RSV-A) | No Ct | No Ct | 13.53** | No Ct | No Ct | 26.79 |
| Respiratory syncytial virus B (RSV-B) | No Ct | No Ct | 13.96** | – | – | – |
| Adenovirus | No Ct | No Ct | 26.32 | No Ct | No Ct | 28.47 |
| Influenza B | No Ct | No Ct | 13.53** | No Ct | No Ct | 29.76 |
| Bocavirus | No Ct | No Ct | 26.77 | – | – | – |
| Haemophilus influenzae | – | – | – | No Ct*** | No Ct | 27.51 |
| Streptococcus pneumoniae | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 27.65 |
| Streptococcus pyogenes | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 27.94 |
| Candida albicans | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 27.51 |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | – | – | – | No Ct*** | No Ct | 27.57 |
| Staphylococcus epidermis | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 27.59 |
| Staphylococcus salivarius | – | – | – | No Ct*** | No Ct | 27.46 |
| Mycoplasma pneumoniae | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 27.21 |
| Chlamydia pneumoniae | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 27.18 |
| Legionella pneumophila | – | – | – | No Ct | No Ct | 24.27 |
| Bordetella pertussis | No Ct | No Ct | – | No Ct | No Ct | No Ct |
| Bordetella parapertussis | No Ct | No Ct | – | No Ct | No Ct | 35.17 |
| Pneumocystis jirovecii | No Ct | No Ct | – | No Ct | No Ct | No Ct |
The RNA from seven different cell culture-amplified coronaviruses was used to set up the Biomeme SARS-CoV-2 assay on Biomeme Franklin three9 in order to assess the specificity of the test to SARS-CoV-2. Mid-turbinate swabs from common respiratory pathogens were also used to test for cross-reactivity with both the Biomeme and Precision Biomonitoring SARS-CoV-2 tests. Common bacteria were also tested with the Precision Biomonitoring assay, not the Biomeme test.
*According to the Biomeme SARS-CoV-2 test design, the RNA Process Control may not amplify (No Ct) when the two SARS-CoV-2 gene signals are very strong.
**RNA used was previously extracted for use on xTAG RVP FAST v2 (Luminex, Toronto, Canada) or ResPlex II (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), which both use MS2 as an internal control, hence much lower Ct values.
***Threshold of 500 RFU was not met, Ct value adjusted.