Performance and Cost Evaluation of One Commercial andSix In-House Conventional and Real-Time ReverseTranscription-PCR Assays for Detection of Severe AcuteRespiratory SyndromeCoronavirus

We evaluated seven reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assays, including six in-house assays and one commercial assay for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) RNA in clinical specimens. RT-PCR assays targeted different genomic regions and included three conventional assays (one nested and two non-nested) run on a conventional heat block and four real-time assays performed in a LightCycler (LC; Roche …