New Australian-made test checks for 14 respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, RSV and influenza

Aussie scientists have developed a test that can identify 14 different respiratory viruses, telling you if your symptoms are just a sniffle or something more serious. Watch how it works.

Exclusive: Aussies who come down with a sniffle will know within 24 hours whether it’s the flu, Covid, a common cold or one of 14 different respiratory viruses, thanks to a new Aussie test.

The results of the pathology test will allow people to act quickly to purchase antiviral medication that could shorten the length and severity of the flu or Covid.

It will also allow doctors to tell whether small children have a simple cold or a potentially-deadly infection – an enterovirus or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) could land them in hospital.

As of last week the PlexPlus test, developed by Aussie company SpeeDx, was available to be validated by major pathology labs so it can be used in this year’s flu season.

SpeeDx will then seek marketing approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration. There are already Medicare rebates available for respiratory testing.

“Our cost per assay will allow even the most cost conscious labs to implement expanded viral detection within current financial conditions,” the company said.

Patients will be able to get the test from their GP and, like the Covid PCR test, it uses a nasal swab to collect genetic material that is sent off for testing in a pathology lab.

The results should be available within 24 hours, which is crucial because antiviral medications need to be started early in an infection to work.

Immunisation Coalition spokesman Dr Rod Pearce said “we’ve spent 20 years telling people look, if you get a virus, don’t do anything but the important message is that changed five years ago”.

“It is actually worth testing for these viruses because now you’ve actually got options, we can tell you if you have you got a treatable virus,” he said.

Adjunct Professor Alison Todd and Dr Elisa Mokany co-created the new test. Picture: Michael Amendolia

SpeeDx was co-founded by two female scientists, Adjunct Professor Alison Todd and Dr Elisa Mokany.

They won the PM’s Science prize for innovation in 2022 for developing molecular diagnostic tests now used in 19 countries.

These prize-winning tests were for conditions including cancers, sexually transmitted infections, respiratory infections, SARS-CoV-2 and fungal skin infections.

Their latest invention relies on the instruments already used in large mass testing pathology laboratories to deliver more information from a single test, relying on a panel of 14 targets.

“It doubles the capacity of existing testing instruments,” Adj Prof Todd said.

“What we have done is we have developed temperature specific probes that only light up at specific temperatures,” she said.

The PlexPlus test will be available this flu season. Picture: Michael Amendolia

The company’s panel includes tests for influenza A and B, Covid, RSV, adenoviruses B and C, human para-influenza viruses 1, 2, 3 and 4, human metapneumovirus, rhinovirus and human enterovirus.

“Enterovirus can cause significant problems in younger children and this is can be quite a serious illness with breathing problems or it can lead to death,” Adj Professor Todd said.

RSV is the number one reason children under five are hospitalised each year. The virus has claimed the lives of more than 21 preschoolers in the last decade.

The company said the specificity of the test, its ability to tell whether someone does not have disease, is greater than 96 per cent for all 14 targets.

If a new pandemic virus emerges the testing panel has room to include it.

“We’ve still got two spots left on the testing panel if anything nasty pops up. It’s actually future proof technology,” Adj Professor Todd said.

Originally published as New Australian-made test checks for 14 respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, RSV and influenza