Comparison of Results Obtained with the FilmArray GI Panel using Rectal Swabs and Cary-Blair stool from Patients with Gastroenteritis in the Pediatric Emergency Dept.

Detection of GI pathogens is limited by both sensitivity and timeliness of traditional methods as well as the inability to obtain a specimen at the time of the patient visit, requiring them to return a stool specimen at a later date. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Copan FecalSwab^®(FS), as a rectal swab collection device, for rapid detection of 22 pathogens using the multiplex FilmArray (FA) gastrointestinal (GI) Panel (BioFire Diagnostics). While the FS is FDA-cleared for transport and culture of GI pathogens, the FS used as a rectal swab collection device is not FDA-cleared for use with any molecular GI assay.