Healthy Soch
“When during infection are they effective?”
New Delhi, April 05, 2020:
What do we know?
- PCR protocols and primers have been widely shared among internationalresearchers though PCR-based diagnostic assays do not differentiate between active and inactive virus.
- A combination of pharyngeal (throat) RT-PCR and chest tomography are the most effective diagnostic criteria (correctly diagnosing 91.9% of infections). Single throat swabs alone detect 78.2% of true infections, while duplicate.
- Nasal and pharyngeal swabs may be less effective as diagnostic specimens than sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.
- RT-PCR tests are able to identify asymptomatic cases; SARS-CoV-2 infection was identified in 2/114individuals previously cleared by clinical assessment.
- The FDA released an Emergency Use Authorization enabling laboratories to develop and use tests in-house for patient diagnosis. Updated tests from the US CDC are available to states.
- US CDC has expanded patient testing criteria to include symptomatic patients at clinician discretion.
- Several rapid or real-time test kits have been produced by universities and industry, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology, BGI, and Cepheid.
- The US CDC is developing serological tests to determine what proportion of the population has been exposed toSARS-CoV-2.
- Machine learning tools are being developed to predict severe and fatalCOVID-19 cases based on CT scans.
What do we need to know?
- False positive/negative rates for tests
- Eclipse phase of infection (time between infection and detectable disease) in an individual
healthysoch
Dr KK Aggarwal
President CMAAO
HealthySoch
