Covid: in the United States the rapid test, similar to the molecular, which gives the result in 30 seconds

As we have learned in these pandemic years from Sars-CoV-2, receive one diagnosis of positivity quickly is useful for a thousand reasons. To isolate yourself promptly, defend others, contain the infection and possibly – if you fall within specific risk ranges – start treatment with the antiviral drugs available within three to five days of the first symptoms appearing. If it is true that rapid antigen tests, even of new generation with qualitative or semi-qualitative method, provide a result in a maximum of thirty minutes, it is equally true that the golden standard was and remains the PCR molecular buffer and that those do-it-yourself or just quick in the pharmacy often give false positives or negatives. What if it were possible to obtain equally reliable results in even thirty seconds?

A group of researchers from the University of Florida has developed a device for testing for Sars-CoV-2 positivity able to detect infection in half a minute starting from a saliva sample. With the difference of turning out just as accurate as a PCR test (remember that PCR is the English acronym for DNA polymerase chain reaction). The group is working alongside scientists from Taiwan’s Yang Ming Chiao Tung National University. Not only that: the university has granted a license to a New Jersey company, Houndstoothe Analytics, with the aim of producing the device on a large scale not only for doctors but also for ordinary people.

The device has an accuracy of 90% and the same sensitivity, i.e. a high ability to identify positive subjects (specificity is the opposite, i.e. the ability of a test to accurately identify healthy subjects). The study on which these results are based is peer-reviewed, so the data would appear to be reliable. “There is nothing of the kind available,” he explained Josephine Esquivel-Upshawa professor at UF College and part of the team, which however does not specifically deal with virology or epidemiology – we think that will revolutionize diagnostics“.

The portable machine uses a simple 9-volt battery to power itself and a cheap test strip to measure Covid levels. It is similar to a glucometer, but this one has the coronavirus antibodies attached to a gold-plated film at the tip. Users place this strip on their tongue to collect a sample of theirs saliva. Then the strip is inserted into a reader on the printed circuit board of the device. If the person is positive, the virus particles in the saliva begin to bind with the antibodies and they modify the voltage of the electrical impulses. The machine reads this voltage, amplifies it a million times in a few seconds and it converts to a numeric value indicating positivity or negativity. Low values ​​mean a large viral load in the patient.

The premises seem comforting but we will have to wait. The device – it would cost 50 euros but it would be reusable – it has not yet been submitted to the US FDA. In fact, the researchers want to conduct further investigations with respect to the validity of the test results. For example, they are not compromised by other pathogens that may be found in the mouth and saliva such as other coronaviruses, staph infections, flu, pneumonia and many others. The research team, led by Fan Ren of the chemical engineering department at Herbert Wertheim College in Gainesville, Florida, is testing the ability of such a identify specific proteins so that it can be used in the diagnosis of other pathologies, such as tumors, heart attacks or immune problems of various kinds.

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Source: Vanity Fair

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