Diagnostic performance of rapid antigen tests (RATs) for SARS-CoV-2 and their efficacy in monitoring the infectiousness of COVID-19 patients.
Sci Rep
; 11(1): 22863, 2021 11 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34819567
ABSTRACT
The most widely used test for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is a PCR test. PCR has very high sensitivity and is able to detect very low amounts of RNA. However, many individuals receiving a positive test result in a context of a PCR-based surveillance might be infected with SARS-CoV-2, but they are not contagious at the time of the test. The question arises regards if the cost effective, portable rapid antigen tests (RATs) have a better performance than PCR in identification of infectious individuals. In this direction, we examined the diagnostic performance of RATs from 14 different manufacturers in 400 clinical samples with known rRT-PCR cycles threshold (cT) and 50 control samples. Substantial variability was observed in the limit of detection (LOD) of different RATs (cT = 26.8-34.7). The fluorescence-based RAT exhibited a LOD of cT = 34.7. The use of the most effective RATs leads to true positive rates (sensitivities) of 99.1% and 90.9% for samples with cT ≤ 30 and cT ≤ 33, respectively, percentages that can guarantee a sensitivity high enough to identify contagious patients. RAT testing may also substantially reduce the quarantine period for infected individuals without compromising personal or public safety.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Teste Sorológico para COVID-19
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SARS-CoV-2
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COVID-19
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article