This week’s episode we follow up on the recent webinar put on by the Validation Institute with St Edwards University and start to answer some of the questions we did not have time to get to. This week we focus on the possible tests available for COVID19 including the recently announced Abbot BinaxNOW Antigen Test
Diagnostic Test
Diagnostic Test – do I have COVID19 or not. We have two main tests “Molecular tests” aka PCR or RT-PCR that detect RNA (or DNA for other viruses) material from the virus and Antigen tests that detect proteins from the envelope of the virus. The molecular test is more accurate, the antigen test can miss positive cases and a -ve Antigen test (especially in someone clinically symptomatic for COVID19) would likely lead to a Molecular test to for confirmation
Expect to see additional antigen tests emerge that will be cheaper and faster become more widely available and be part of an ongoing surveillance strategy. We have rapid antigen tests for influenza, and these are used at the point of care for quick diagnosis confirmation. Having both in place will be essential as we enter into Flu season as it will be important to differentiate flu from COVID19 for isolation and contact tracing
More accurately what these tests really tell you is you have some elements of the virus in your body and are shedding and we can detect this. In the majority of cases if you are shedding you are shedding active or live virus that is capable of infecting other people. However, there have been several recorded cases of people shedding viruses long past them being infective to other people. In these cases, it appears that virus fragments are still being shed and the tests pick up on this, but these fragments are not infective. This is why the clearance protocol is based on symptoms and not on follow up/repeat testing.
Antibody Test
Antibody Test – looks for antibodies created to the virus in your bloodstream. Currently of unknown value since we don’t know if the presence of antibodies and at what level equates to immunity. They have limited value until we know more.
Our training modules are available to help businesses, education facilities, and employers get their employees, staff, customers, and students back to work and school safely in the context of COVID19
