Infections are increasing, also thanks to the Omicron variant, and it is rushed to the swab. Long lines from Milan to Palermo, waits that can reach several hours, even four or five, to carry out a test before and during the holidays, in hubs and pharmacies. Most of the tampons carried out are antigenic, or more commonly known as “rapid”. The result is obtained in about 15 minutes for a cost that varies between 15 and 20 euros. The false negative, however, is just around the corner, as specified by some exponents of the scientific community.
This type of test detects the virus proteins (antigens) and the margin of error is included in a range that fluctuates between 10% and 25% “depending on whether it is carried out by an expert, for example in a pharmacy or not” , as he tells the Corriere della Sera Pierangelo Clerici, president of the Italian Clinical Microbiologists Association and of the Italian Federation of Laboratory Scientific Societies. The less experienced you are, the more the chances of false negatives increase. This is the case of the DIY tampons that could lead to 1 out of 4 incorrect results.
Not recommended are the salivary tests. “The quality of the saliva sample is subject to many variables, such as the time elapsed since food or drink and how the swab was held in the mouth. In general, tests of this type offer less guarantees than those that analyze a nose oropharyngeal sample ”, explains Clerici in the Corriere della Sera.
THE serological testson the other hand, they are unable to confirm an ongoing infection. In fact, they measure the presence or absence of antibodies in the blood produced in response to covid – 19 or the vaccine. But they don’t help to understand the real protective immunization, as he explains Fortunato Paolo D’Ancona, physician and senior researcher of the Infectious Diseases Department of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
The molecular remains the most reliable test, with an almost zero margin of error because the presence of the virus genome is detected even when the viral load is very low, through the RT – PCR method, as specified by the ISS.
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