COVID-19 testing Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Should You Use a Self-Swab COVID-19 Test?

AHA Publisher — Sat, 23 May 2020 07:00:24 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – Is testing the key to moving forward after the COVID-19 pandemic? And if so, what’s the most efficient way for mass testing? Some people believe a self-swab COVID-19 test is a good option for many. Should you try it? There are many questions and few answers. Here’s the current information on these new testing options, how it’s different from other tests, and why it may make a difference with policies moving forward. Self-Swab COVID-19 Tests Self-swab testing has hit high speed in recent weeks. In fact, there are now 5 companies offering at-home self-swap COVID-19 tests. These companies include: Pixel by LabCorp ($119) Everlywell ($109) Vault ($150) Vitagene ($149) hims & hers ($150) All of these companies are authorized by the FDA to analyze their tests. And, the tests themselves have received FDA-authorization. The Road to Self-Swab COVID-19 Tests Since the start of the pandemic, the FDA has authorized more than 50 diagnostic tests, using more than 350 test developers. Easy, reliable, home sample collection is considered the “holy grail” of mass testing since it is potentially the most efficient way for the public to ensure they are not spreading COVID-19, especially if they work with high-riskpopulations. One of the bottlenecks of testing has been having enough FDA-approved testing facilities and machines (1). There are hopes that at-home testing will expedite the process. How Home Self-Swab COVID-19 Tests Work The self-swabbing kits contain nasal swabs and saline. Individuals receive instructions to use the nasal swab in each nostril to collect the nasal sample, and an insulated package with pre-paid postage to use for mailing it back to the lab. The home collection kits are now available to consumers online in all states. Most of them have a few states in which they are not available, but Vitagene is available in all states (2). Of note, LabCorp will seek reimbursement from insurance or the government upon request and does not require an upfront payment. All of the other 4 companies require an upfront payment. Viral Testing vs. Antibody Testing The aforementioned tests are molecular viral tests. One other company, Scanwell Health, has made an antibody test available, but it is not yet FDA approved. The FDA-authorized self-swab COVID-19 tests test for the viral genetic material of the coronavirus. They can only indicate whether or not COVID-19 is present in the sample, and they do not indicate if other infections are also present. A negative result indicates that no COVID-19 genetic material was found. Of note, it is possible to get a negative result when very small amounts of COVID-19 is present. Experts believe that as long as the self-swabbing directions are followed, these tests can be highly accurate. All 5 companies claim high accuracy for their tests. This molecular viral test is different from an antibody test. The antibody tests require a blood test. They detect antibodies (immunoglobulins, IgG, and IgM) that the body has produced to fight COVID-19. Antibodies are proteins the immune system produces to fight infection. An antibody test is helpful if you believe you recovered from COVID-19 but want a positive test to confirm. Accuracy of Antibody Tests There are issues with the accuracy of antibody testing. First, it can require weeks for the body to produce enough antibodies for testings, so there is a period of time when a person could have or have had COVID-19, but still test negative. Antibody tests, unfortunately, are also known to give false negatives and false positives. Lastly, it’s not known for sure if having antibodies makes a person immune to another bout of COVID-19, which may be contagious again. Testing, COVID-19 Incidence, and COVID-19 Death Rates One of the most difficult things about this novel COVID-19 virus has been making real-time decisions without historical data on the disease. Time will tell if the right decisions were made, and how we can learn from them. Hopefully, scientists will be able to look back at this pandemic and determine true incidence rates, and therefore, true death rates of the disease. They will be able to determine the real threat of it for different groups of people, and whether the actions taken were the right ones. Mass testing may help their efforts now and in the future. Bottom Line Should you get a home test? If you are concerned about your own health, or the health of those you come into contact with, a test is likely beneficial to you. It may also help us move forward as a society as more get tested. The more we know, the better prepared we will be in the future, for a possible second wave of COVID-19 and other novel viral pandemics. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Colbert click here.

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Scientists Develop Covid-19 Diagnostic Test That is 10x Faster

AHA Publisher — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 07:00:42 +0000

ISRAEL21c Staff via Israel21c – Hebrew University researchers develop faster, cheaper test using materials commonly found in labs. A worldwide shortage of Covid-19 testing materials is slowing down the rate of testing and increasing the rate of infection. Coming from Israel, one answer to the problem is a faster and cheaper test using materials commonly found in diagnostic labs. The test was developed by Prof. Nir Friedman at Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Life Sciences and School of Engineering and Computer Science and Prof. Naomi Habib at the university’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Science. Testing for Covid-19 currently involves extracting RNA molecules from a patient’s swab sample to see whether they contain viral RNA that confirms the presence of the COVID-19 virus. The new method developed by Friedman and Habib can do the same thing, only four to 10 times faster due to magnetic beads that work both robotically and manually. These beads are the only item in the test kit that aren’t readily available in any lab, but one acquired they can be used again and again. The robotic protocol has already been tested on hundreds of clinical samples at Hadassah Medical Center. “Our results were identical to those found by the kits currently being used,” said Friedman. “We are publishing a detailed protocol … including steps for manual pipetting and for automated pipetting,” Friedman tells ISRAEL21c. “We will be happy to help other labs in Israel and abroad to set this up. One of the benefits of our protocol is that it is an open system. It does not require a particular device from a specific manufacturer.” Habib and Friedman have teamed up with 15 researchers and lab students from the university to develop a method enabling tens of thousands of samples to be tested simultaneously using their system, instead of the current rate of thousands of tests. “We’re encouraged by preliminary and positive indications that this method will work,” said Friedman. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

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Israelis Introduce Method for Accelerated COVID-19 Testing

AHA Publisher — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 07:00:39 +0000

ISRAEL21c Staff – Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus scientists present a novel way to test more than 60 patients simultaneously. A method to increase dramatically the current COVID-19 testing capacity was announced by researchers at two Haifa institutions — Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus. According to Professor Roy Kishony, head of the Technion biology research group, the method simply pools multiple samples in a single test tube. They’re screened using the normal PCR testing procedure, which takes several hours. “Even when we conducted a joint examination of 64 samples in which only one was a positive carrier, the system identified that there was a positive sample,” said Kishony. “Although there are some logistical challenges in implementing the method, we expect that it will greatly increase the volume of samples tested per day so that we can identify the asymptomatic carriers. This approach should reduce the chance of infection and flatten the infection curve.” The current rate of COVID-19 testing in Israel — about 1,200 a day – does not allow for screening asymptomatic carriers. Many experts say this is vital to curb the epidemic. “Today, we receive approximately 200 COVID-19 test samples a day, and each sample undergoes individual examination,” said Dr. Yuval Gefen, director of the Rambam Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. “With the new pooling approach we have currently tested, molecular testing can be performed on a combined sample from 32 or 64 patients. This way we can significantly accelerate the testing rate. Only in those rare cases, where the joint sample is found to be positive, will we conduct an individual test for each of the specific samples.” The trial of the pooling method was completed in less than four days, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Health and close collaboration between Technion and Rambam. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

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