The hoax of a Twitter user who tries to demonstrate the “unreliability” of these tests has gone viral
In recent days, a publication experimenting with an antigen test has gone viral on Twitter. In the video you can see how the user squeezes a few drops of orange juice on the test and, a few seconds later, the red line appears indicating a positive result. The author of the hoax, @MagnetoDark, pulls irony in his message: «Orange lady, you are confined for 7 days by Health protocol».
Although it may seem curious, the positive has a clear scientific explanation that shows that the experiment is nothing more than a hoax and that the antigen tests are only valid if they are used in the way they are prepared. This has been clarified by numerous Twitter users in response to the author of the video. One of them has been Héctor Castiñeira, a hospital nurse better known on the social network as ‘Saturated Nurse’, who is also dedicated to health dissemination in various media.
The deception is based on the pH of the liquid. The health worker explains that the video does not use the appropriate liquid: “the test buffer (the reagent), whose function is to keep the pH stable within the ranges required by the test.” That is, the test only works by applying the liquid that comes in the pack, after having impregnated the swab with the patient’s sample, following the instructions on how to take a test. Any other fluid, be it orange juice, lemon, or even water, alters the pH of the sample and gives a false result.
Videos pouring juice, water, urine … into antigen tests to show that they “test positive” and that is why they are false.
In none of these videos is the test buffer (the reagent) used, whose function is to keep the pH stable within the ranges required by the test. pic.twitter.com/8Art74Kal8
Saturated Nurse 🦖 (@EnfrmraSaturada) January 10, 2022
In addition, many users have pointed out that, to certify that the test result is reliable, the red line must first appear in the control C, while if the T comes out first, the test is void, as in this case. Other people are surprised by what they find inside a test, because there is no high-tech tool, but a test strip. To them, the nurse explains that “inside there is a membrane where the interaction of the Covid-19 antigen takes place (if there is an infection) with adhered modified antibodies. Open one of pregnancy and you will see the same ».
It seems to be a new attempt with which the deniers want to dismantle the pandemic, this time trying to make the antigen tests that anyone can do at home unreliable, useful for a much greater identification of cases. However, there are also those who have opted for mischief. The British newspaper The Guardian assured months ago that some students were using orange juice to falsify the tests and be able to skip classes and even published advice on how to do it on TikTok.
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