“All in triplex” is a 3-in-1 self-test, on sale in pharmacies since last week. Its objective: to know in 15 minutes if you have bronchiolitis, flu or covid. Developed by AAZ, the manufacturer boasts very high reliability. For its part, the High Authority for Health seems more measured.
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As temperatures drop, winter-related illnesses reappear and no one is safe. Bronchiolitis, also called RSV in children, flu in the oldest, without forgetting Covid, for everyone.
A festival of viruses that will make your days and nights hell. Nothing changes, you will still catch them, but from now on, you should know, in less than fifteen seconds, which of these unwanted guests has decided to come and squat in your body.
Since Wednesday, November 27, it is now possible to buy, in pharmacies and without a medical prescription, a self-test to check, in one go, if you have one of these pathologies.
An advance in the detection of the disease according to Cyril Colombani, pharmacist and President of the Union of Community Pharmacists Unions 06: “the three diseases that are tested, whether RSV, flu or Covid, have symptoms that are very similar. With the increase in the vaccination rate for Covid and flu, it is really difficult to make the difference. With this test, it allows you to know exactly what you have in less than 15 minutes.
With this test, you can find out exactly what you have in less than 15 minutes.
Cyril Colombani, pharmacist and President of the Union of Community Pharmacists Unions 06France 3 Côte d'Azur
Concretely, it is a small pen that we will introduce inside each of the nostrils by rubbing delicately on each of its walls. Once this act is accomplished, simply immerse the pen in a reactive liquid… And that's it! All you have to do is wait 15 minutes for the result of this triple test. The results appear on three different colored strips. Each color (blue for Covid, green for flu, orange for bronchiolitis) corresponding to one of the three viruses. If two red bands appear, it means a positive result; a single band means it is negative.
Asked about this innovation in viral detection, Doctor Jean-Luc Leymarie, general practitioner welcomes the appearance of this 3 in 1 self-test which, according to him, will allow better care for his patients: “For us, doctors, this will allow us to make, on the one hand, a reliable and rapid diagnosis and, on the other hand, to avoid “overprescribing” antibiotics when we are not sure of the viral strain. So, for me, as a practitioner, in my office it reassures me to know that I will wisely prescribe a medication or a symptomatic treatment with a painkiller-anti-fever or things like that.”
A reliable and rapid diagnosis helps avoid overprescribing antibiotics.
Jean-Luc Leymarie – General practitionerFTV
For its part, the HAS, the High Authority of Health, published on its website a report which responds to a referral from the Directorate General of Health (DGS).
Dated 1is December 2022, the DGS asked the HAS to rule on the medical interest of “All in triplex” and to use rapid diagnostic orientation tests, called TROD, to research in a city context (typically during 'a consultation in a medical office) the main viruses responsible for acute respiratory infections likely to co-circulate in an epidemic manner during winter, in this case RSV, influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2, respectively responsible for majority of bronchiolitis, influenza and COVID-19.
In conclusion, the HAS sets out two conditions in its report:
- Diagnostic performance studies conforming to HAS methodological specifications must therefore be carried out;
- The population impact of these TRODs must also be reinforced. To this end, a prospective comparative collection of data of real-life clinical utility should be implemented in order to:
- Measure the impact of the use of these tests on the rate of antibiotic prescriptions on the one hand, and on the rate of re-consultations in the office or emergency department on the other hand. This data collection could be based on the voluntary involvement of test regions/territories,
- Make it possible to define the indication(s) for which these TRODs would be useful if they demonstrate one (age, clinical picture, temporality, etc.).
According to Le Parisien who contacted the manufacturer “AAZ claims to now be in possession of new “partially reassuring” data, particularly concerning influenza screening, before the launch of a “national-scale survey” during the winter of 2025-2026.”
The AAZ group test should be sold individually for between 10 and 14 euros depending on the pharmacy and, for the moment, it is not reimbursed by Social Security.
