For a hospital lab, the “best” immunoassay platform for rapid infectious disease testing usually depends on whether you need high throughput in the central lab, true near-patient/STAT turnaround, or broad menu breadth. In practice, the top choices tend to fall into a few platform types:

1) Automated chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA/CMIA/ECLIA) analyzers

Best for: high-volume hospital labs, routine serology, antigen testing with automation
Why they’re strong:

• Fast turnaround with high throughput
• Good precision and automation
• Can handle large test volumes with minimal hands-on time
• Broad infectious disease menus often include:
  • HIV Ag/Ab
  • Hepatitis B/C markers
  • Syphilis
  • CMV, EBV, toxoplasma, etc.
  • Some respiratory or fungal antigens, depending on vendor

Examples of platform families:

• Roche cobas e
• Abbott Alinity i / Architect i
• Siemens Atellica IM / Advia Centaur
• Beckman Coulter Access / DxI
• DiaSorin Liaison

Best fit: If your lab wants the most reliable workhorse platform for rapid immunoassay testing at scale.

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2) Rapid cartridge-based immunoassay systems

Best for: ED, ICU, isolation units, urgent stat testing, low-to-moderate volume
Why they’re strong:

• Very fast turnaround, often 10–30 minutes
• Simple workflow, minimal training
• Useful when immediate decisions are needed

Common use cases:

• Influenza/RSV/SARS-CoV-2 antigen tests
• Group A strep
• Some respiratory panels
• Troponin and other non-infectious STAT assays, depending on system

Examples:

• Abbott BinaxNOW-style lateral flow tests for rapid antigen use
• Roche cobas Liat
• Cepheid Xpert (technically molecular rather than immunoassay, but often used in the same STAT workflow discussion)
• QuidelOrtho Sofia / Savanna platforms
• BD Veritor

Best fit: If your priority is the fastest possible answer at point of care or near-patient testing.

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3) Lateral flow / point-of-care immunoassays

Best for: bedside, outpatient, resource-limited settings, outbreak screening
Why they’re strong:

• Cheapest and simplest
• Portable
• No complex instrumentation
• Great for screening or triage

Limitations:

• Lower sensitivity than central-lab automated systems
• More operator-dependent
• May need confirmatory testing

Best fit: When speed and simplicity matter more than maximal analytic sensitivity.

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4) Multiplex immunoassay platforms

Best for: syndromic or broad infectious disease serology, research-heavy hospitals, specialized labs
Why they’re strong:

• Can test multiple analytes from one sample
• Efficient for panels, e.g. TORCH, autoantibody/infectious serology workups, some respiratory antibody studies
• Good when sample volume is limited

Examples:

• Luminex-based bead arrays
• BioPlex systems
• Some microarray platforms

Best fit: Speciality labs needing panel-based serology rather than single-analyte STAT testing.

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Practical recommendation by hospital setting

If you want the best all-around central lab platform:

Choose an automated CLIA/CMIA/ECLIA analyzer.

If you want the fastest bedside answer:

Choose a rapid cartridge or lateral flow platform.

If you need broad panel testing:

Choose a multiplex immunoassay system.

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Key selection criteria

When comparing platforms, look at:

• Turnaround time
• Analytical sensitivity/specificity
• Menu breadth
• Throughput
• Hands-on time
• Automation and connectivity to LIS
• Reagent availability and supply chain stability
• CLIA-waived vs moderate/high complexity
• Cost per reportable result
• Need for confirmatory testing

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Bottom line

For most hospital labs, the best overall immunoassay platforms for rapid infectious disease testing are automated chemiluminescent analyzers, with rapid cartridge or point-of-care systems added for STAT needs in the ED or ICU.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a ranked list of specific platforms by use case, or
2. a comparison table of Roche vs Abbott vs Siemens vs Beckman vs DiaSorin for infectious disease immunoassays.