Diagnosing respiratory syncytial virus by nasal lavage

Abstract

Nasal lavage was compared wth nasopharyngeal aspiration for diagnosis of respiratory syncytial virus infection. Nasal lavage and nasopharyngeal aspiration were performed on 50 occasions in 32 infants (median age 516 months) with acute viral wheezing. Compared with nasopharyngeal aspiration, nasal lavage had a positive predictive value of 95.6% and negative predictive value of 92.5%. These comparable results and lack of adverse effects make nasal lavage the preferred method.