tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Public Health. 2020 Apr 18;182:170-172. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2020.04.009. [Epub ahead of print]
Rapid point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2 in a community screening setting shows low sensitivity.
D?hla M[SUP]1[/SUP], Boesecke C[SUP]2[/SUP], Schulte B[SUP]3[/SUP], Diegmann C[SUP]4[/SUP], Sib E[SUP]4[/SUP], Richter E[SUP]3[/SUP], Eschbach-Bludau M[SUP]3[/SUP], Aldabbagh S[SUP]3[/SUP], Marx B[SUP]3[/SUP], Eis-H?binger AM[SUP]3[/SUP], Schmithausen RM[SUP]4[/SUP], Streeck H[SUP]3[/SUP].
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
With the current SARS-CoV2 outbreak, countless tests need to be performed on potential symptomatic individuals, contacts and travellers. The gold standard is a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based system taking several hours to confirm positivity. For effective public health containment measures, this time span is too long. We therefore evaluated a rapid test in a high-prevalence community setting.
STUDY DESIGN:
Thirty-nine randomly selected individuals at a COVID-19 screening centre were simultaneously tested via qPCR and a rapid test. Ten previously diagnosed individuals with known SARS-CoV-2 infection were also analysed.
METHODS:
The evaluated rapid test is an IgG/IgM-based test for SARS-CoV-2 with a time to result of 20 min. Two drops of blood are needed for the test performance.
RESULTS:
Of 49 individuals, 22 tested positive by repeated qPCR. In contrast, the rapid test detected only eight of those positive correctly (sensitivity: 36.4%). Of the 27 qPCR-negative individuals, 24 were detected correctly (specificity: 88.9%).
CONCLUSION:
Given the low sensitivity, we recommend not to rely on an antibody-based rapid test for public health measures such as community screenings.
Copyright ? 2020 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19; Coronavirus; Outbreak; Rapid test; SARS-CoV-2
PMID:32334183DOI:10.1016/j.puhe.2020.04.009
Rapid point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2 in a community screening setting shows low sensitivity.
D?hla M[SUP]1[/SUP], Boesecke C[SUP]2[/SUP], Schulte B[SUP]3[/SUP], Diegmann C[SUP]4[/SUP], Sib E[SUP]4[/SUP], Richter E[SUP]3[/SUP], Eschbach-Bludau M[SUP]3[/SUP], Aldabbagh S[SUP]3[/SUP], Marx B[SUP]3[/SUP], Eis-H?binger AM[SUP]3[/SUP], Schmithausen RM[SUP]4[/SUP], Streeck H[SUP]3[/SUP].
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
With the current SARS-CoV2 outbreak, countless tests need to be performed on potential symptomatic individuals, contacts and travellers. The gold standard is a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based system taking several hours to confirm positivity. For effective public health containment measures, this time span is too long. We therefore evaluated a rapid test in a high-prevalence community setting.
STUDY DESIGN:
Thirty-nine randomly selected individuals at a COVID-19 screening centre were simultaneously tested via qPCR and a rapid test. Ten previously diagnosed individuals with known SARS-CoV-2 infection were also analysed.
METHODS:
The evaluated rapid test is an IgG/IgM-based test for SARS-CoV-2 with a time to result of 20 min. Two drops of blood are needed for the test performance.
RESULTS:
Of 49 individuals, 22 tested positive by repeated qPCR. In contrast, the rapid test detected only eight of those positive correctly (sensitivity: 36.4%). Of the 27 qPCR-negative individuals, 24 were detected correctly (specificity: 88.9%).
CONCLUSION:
Given the low sensitivity, we recommend not to rely on an antibody-based rapid test for public health measures such as community screenings.
Copyright ? 2020 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19; Coronavirus; Outbreak; Rapid test; SARS-CoV-2
PMID:32334183DOI:10.1016/j.puhe.2020.04.009