In the majority of cases there is a clear difference in the p value, the mean normalized log ratio, or both, between the correct hit and subsequent hits, allowing for both automatic and manual detection of true and false positives. However, this does require careful interpretation. Both DetectiV and E-Predict predict multiple, significant matches on all of the arrays. When using DetectiV, it is only when looking for major changes between the top hit and subsequent hits, in terms of p value or mean log ratio, that it is possible to separate the true positives from the false positives. In many cases, using automatic rules will result in the correct result; however, there will inevitably be borderline cases where human inspection of the results is required. This is all the more important when considering the possible economic impacts of a false positive for certain species. At present, the safest way to employ such arrays, and their analysis methods, may be simply as a first step towards identifying infectious agents, informing researchers about which viruses they should test for using more conventional methods.