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Rapid antigen detection kit for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 - are we missing asymptomatic patients?
Rimjhim Kanaujia1, Arnab Ghosh2, Ritin Mohindra3
1Department of Medical Microbiology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, 160012, India.
Purpose:
To determine the utility, diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value of the laboratory based Covid-19 antigen detection test (Coris Bio- Concept, Gembloux, Belgium) for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 in a tertiary care hospital among symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
Methods:
The nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from the symptomatic patients and their contacts. The diagnostic accuracy of this antigen kit was determined in comparison to SARS-CoV-2 real-time reverse transcriptase (RT-PCR).
Results:
A total of 825 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study; RT-PCR and antigen detection was performed simultaneously for 484 samples to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the test. The overall specificity and sensitivity was 99.32% and 71.96% respectively. Also, 3.7% of the asymptomatic patients who were negative by RAT were detected positive by RT-PCR.
Conclusion:
This rapid antigen test (RAT) was sensitive in the symptomatic patients presenting during the initial phase of the illness. Since, majority of the SARS-CoV-2 patients are asymptomatic and considering the huge population, the testing strategy formulated by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) at the national level was cost effective. Thus, Ag-RDTs could play a pivotal role in early diagnosis, policy making and surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2.
