• Infection
• Diagnosis
• Athletes

Acute respiratory illness (ARI) is the most common reason athletes seek acute medical care and represents a significant challenge to the sport and exercise medicine (SEM) clinician working ‘in the field’.1 Faced with this issue, there is a need to determine if symptoms are caused by an acute respiratory infection (ARInf), establish if a specific antimicrobial treatment is indicated, evaluate the risk of transmission and provide appropriate advice regarding the safety of ongoing sports participation.

Recent technological advances now offer clinicians the ability to rapidly (ie, in less than an hour) analyse respiratory samples and identify the presence of pathogens via genetic signatures. This approach, with molecular respiratory point-of-care testing (ResPOCT), can now be used not only for SARS-CoV-2 but also a panel of common pathogens causing respiratory infections, including viruses (eg, rhinovirus, seasonal coronaviruses, influenza viruses, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)) and some bacteria (eg, Bordetella pertussis, Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae).

The accuracy and validity of ResPOCT have been tested against laboratory-based methods and are increasingly being used in ‘out-of-hospital’ settings.2 3 Moreover, the development of more versatile and portable devices should prompt the logical question of whether this approach should be deployed more widely to enhance the care provided to athletes. This commentary discusses the potential role and ongoing knowledge gaps regarding ResPOCT in athletes.