Eurosurv. Detection of the new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 in five SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RATs), Germany, March 2021

[tetano]

• Sabrina Jungnick[SUP]1,2[/SUP] , Bernhard Hobmaier[SUP]1,2[/SUP] , Lena Mautner[SUP]3[/SUP] , Mona Hoyos[SUP]3[/SUP] , Maren Haase[SUP]3[/SUP] , Armin Baiker[SUP]3[/SUP] , Heidi Lahne[SUP]1[/SUP] , Ute Eberle[SUP]1[/SUP] , Clara Wimmer[SUP]1[/SUP] , Sabrina Hepner[SUP]1[/SUP] , Annika Sprenger[SUP]1[/SUP] , Carola Berger[SUP]1[/SUP] , Alexandra Dangel[SUP]1[/SUP] , Manfred Wildner[SUP]4,5[/SUP] , Bernhard Liebl[SUP]4,5[/SUP] , Nikolaus Ackermann[SUP]1[/SUP] , Andreas Sing[SUP]1,4[/SUP] , Volker Fingerle[SUP]1[/SUP] , the Bavarian SARS-CoV-2-Public Health Laboratory Team[SUP]1,6[/SUP]

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) should not escape molecular surveillance. We investigated if SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RATs) could detect B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 VOCs in certain laboratory conditions. Infectious cell culture supernatants containing B.1.1.7, B.1.351 or non-VOC SARS-CoV-2 were respectively diluted both in DMEM and saliva. Dilutions were analysed with Roche, Siemens, Abbott, nal von minden and RapiGEN RATs. While further studies with appropriate real-life clinical samples are warranted, all RATs detected B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, generally comparable to non-VOC strain.


[SUP]full article[/SUP]


https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.16.2100413#html_fulltext