Early diagnosis and population prevention of coronavirus disease 2019

To discuss the diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection by nucleic acid and antibody testing as well as its contribution to mitigating the spread of coronavirus disease 2019.

Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is the firstly developed and most widely used diagnostic technique for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA NAT assays is always unsatisfactory, mainly due to insufficient viral RNA in samples, especially when upper respiratory samples were used. Compared with NAT assays, serological tests are more convenient and less dependent on the quality of sample collection. But the sensitivity of antibody assays varies largely to test samples collected at different time after onset of symptoms. The diagnostic sensitivity can be significantly improved by combination of RNA and antibody testing. Due to the lack of effective drugs and vaccines, population prevention results mainly from timely triage and quarantine of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Thus, extensive testing with NAT and antibody assays simultaneously is very important to constrain coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic.

Viral RNA testing combining with serological testing could improve the early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, which has great value for clinical practice and public health.