In addition to vaccinations, keeping your distance, ventilating, wearing masks and testing are among the most important protective measures against the next corona wave, which is expected in autumn. There is great hope again for the uncomplicated, widely available and inexpensive antigen tests, which open the door to many activities. been published Clinical Microbiology and Infection , shows that a negative rapid test does not always give you peace of mind

In the world's largest published clinical study on rapid antigen tests to date, the team led by Isabell Wagenhäuser and Dr. Manuel Krone compared the sensitivity of rapid antigen tests for different variants of SARS-CoV-2, including the currently predominant omicron variant. A total of 35,479 parallel samples were taken from 26,940 people between November 2020 and January 2022.

Result

Of 426 SARS-CoV-2-positive PCR samples, only 164 were positive in the rapid test. This corresponds to a sensitivity of just 38.50 percent. In the case of the currently predominant Omicron variant, only 33.67 percent worked. For the wild type, 42.86 percent of the rapid tests showed positive results.

Sensitivity depends on viral load

“As expected, we observed that as the viral load decreased, the sensitivity of the rapid tests also decreased. But especially when the viral load is high, omicron infections are more difficult to detect using rapid antigen tests.”

Isabell Wagenhäuser

Study leader Manuel Krone adds: “The viral load, at which rapid tests have a 50 percent probability of being effective, was 48 times higher in those infected with Omicron than in the wild-type virus . We were able to demonstrate this reduction in sensitivity previously observed in laboratory studies for the first time in everyday clinical practice.”

Although all of these aspects further limit the use of rapid antigen tests, according to the author team, they are still an irreplaceable diagnostic tool for rapid, large-scale SARS-CoV-2 screening .

“Rapid tests are not an adequate replacement for PCR examinations in symptomatic people. But they can filter out potential superspreaders and thus help contain the next wave of infections.”

Manuel Krone

You might also be interested in:Fact check: Does the vaccination protect against omicron?

Source: German Health Portal


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