Molecular Test & Antigen Test In Covid-19 diagnosis

Molecular tests

• Molecular testing is the preferred technique for the diagnosis of COVID-19 due to its high sensitivity and specificity, but negative results do not always rule out the presence of infection, especially when clinical suspicion is high.
• The sensitivity of 282 molecular tests ranged from 88.1 to 100% and specificity ranged from 88 to 100%.

Antigen tests

• It has been stated in US FDA Emergency Use Authorization reports that the detection sensitivity of antigen tests is as low as 83.5% which may yield many false-negative results.

• In practice, antigen tests are less sensitive than reverse transcription-PCR and less reliable in samples with lower viral load.
• Recent studies have shown that antigen tests demonstrated a wide range of sensitivity from 16.7 to 85% in clinical usage.

At-home tests

• At-home testing has emerged to ease the self-collection of nasal and saliva samples and minimize risks of exposure at testing sites.
• Although at-home test kits can provide accurate positive results in symptomatic patients, negative results are less reliable than molecular techniques performed in the laboratory, especially in asymptomatic patients.
• COVID-19 molecular tests are available to everyone in the USA at low or no costs; however, at-home tests are often sold by pharmacies or retailers that cost higher. (Molecular Test & Antigen Test In Covid-19 Diagnosis)

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