Antigen tests to detect Covid-19 may not be fast enough to identify the Omicron variant in the first few days of virus infection. A study published in medRxiv last Wednesday (5), but still without peer review, analyzed 29 infected workers, performing both the rapid test and the PCR.
Professionals from high-risk areas were contaminated with the Omicron variant and carried out PCR and antigen tests simultaneously for several days. The study found that saliva PCRs detected the disease an average of three days before the rapid nasal swab samples tested positive.
Read more:
- Experts say the omicron variant is the most communicable disease in history
- Anvisa approves Fiocruz's input and Brazil will have vaccine against 100% Brazilian Covid-19
- Anvisa evaluates the use of Coronavac in children aged 3 years and over
"When people test negative for fast antigen, they can still have very infectious viral loads and pass it on to other people," said Blythe Adamson, study leader at New York-based risk reduction firm Infectious Economics LLC , in an interview with Reuters .
The Omicron variant can be transmitted, according to eMed science director and former Harvard professor Michael Mina, when it only infected the throat and saliva, without reaching the nostrils. Therefore, the rapid nasal swab test fails to find the virus for the first few days. But when the antigen tests show a positive result, it is quite reliable, he added.
The Omicron variant shows Covid-19 symptoms earlier in patients. Mina advised that people who feel something wait a few days to perform the quick tests. “When you feel symptoms, assume it is positive”, he added.
This coronavirus strain appears less severe in vaccinated people , but even so it cannot be considered “mild”, highlighted the World Health Organization (WHO).
Via: Reuters
Covid's post Quick Tests May Not Detect Omicron Variant Immediately first appeared in Digital Gaze .
Comments are closed.