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Diagnostic techniques for COVID-19: A mini-review
Xianyong Wu1, Qiming Chen1, Junhai Li2
1School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
Insights
Early detection of COVID-19 is crucial. This review covers diagnostic assays like nucleic acid tests, immunological methods, and CT imaging for accurate COVID-19 diagnosis and pandemic control.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Medical Diagnostics
- Public Health
Background:
- COVID-19, a novel respiratory illness, emerged in late 2019 and has caused significant global health and economic impact.
- Effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic relies on early detection, isolation, and diagnosis of infected individuals and asymptomatic carriers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and summarize current diagnostic assays for COVID-19 clinical applications.
- To highlight the importance of various diagnostic techniques in managing the pandemic.
Main Methods:
- Review of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAT), focusing on real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) as the primary method.
- Examination of immunological methods, including serological antibody tests and viral antigen detection assays.
- Assessment of Computed Tomography (CT) imaging as an auxiliary diagnostic tool, particularly for early-stage symptomatic patients.
Main Results:
- Nucleic acid tests (NAT), especially qPCR, are widely used for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome.
- Immunological methods, such as serological tests and antigen assays, aid in diagnosing past or current infections.
- CT imaging serves as a valuable supplementary tool for diagnosing COVID-19, especially when viral loads are low.
Conclusions:
- Each diagnostic technique offers unique advantages for COVID-19 detection.
- Combining multiple diagnostic approaches significantly enhances the overall accuracy of COVID-19 diagnosis.
- Accurate and timely diagnosis is essential for controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract:
COVID-19, a new respiratory infectious disease, was first reported at the end of 2019, in Wuhan, China. Now, COVID-19 is still causing major loss of human life and economic productivity in almost all countries around the world. Early detection, early isolation, and early diagnosis of COVID-19 patients and asymptomatic carriers are essential to blocking the spread of the pandemic. This paper briefly reviewed COVID-19 diagnostic assays for clinical application, including nucleic acid tests, immunological methods, and Computed Tomography (CT) imaging. Nucleic acid tests (NAT) target the virus genome and indicates the existence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Currently, real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the most widely used NAT and, basically, is the most used diagnostic assay for COVID-19. Besides qPCR, many novel rapid and sensitive NAT assays were also developed. Serological testing (detection of serum antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2), which belongs to the immunological methods, is also used in the diagnosis of COVID-19. The positive results of serological testing indicate the presence of antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 resulting from being infected with the virus. Viral antigen detection assays are also important immunological methods used mainly for rapid virus detection. However, only a few of these assays had been reported. CT imaging is still an important auxiliary diagnosis tool for COVID-19 patients, especially for symptomatic patients in the early stage, whose viral load is low and different to be identified by NAT. These diagnostic techniques are all good in some way and applying a combination of them will greatly improve the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostics.
