Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Lin Qingqing Correspondent Sui Weijian Xuan Sui Disease Control
Recently, Guangzhou has begun to launch new coronavirus antigen self-test products. On the afternoon of March 22, Li Kuibiao, deputy director of the Virus Immunity Department of the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, responded to hot issues and emphasized that nucleic acid testing is still the “gold standard” for confirming new coronavirus infection.
What are the similarities and differences between antigen detection and nucleic acid detection? Li Kuibiao introduced that antigens are like the “clothes” worn on the outside of the virus, and nucleic acids are the genes inside the virus. The principle of antigen detection is to detect the presence of viral proteins in the specimen. Compared with nucleic acid detection, antigen detection has two significant advantages:
1. The detection speed is fast, and the results can be seen in about 15 minutes;
2. Additional equipment is required, as simple as using a pregnancy test stick to detect pregnancy, which can be used in community hospitals or at home, and the cost of testing is relatively low.
On March 22, antigen reagents were put on the shelves in 26 pharmacies in Guangzhou
Li Kuibiao emphasized that nucleic acid testing is still It is the basis for the diagnosis of new coronary pneumonia and the “gold standard”. The sensitivity of antigen detection is 100 to 1000 times lower than that of nucleic acid detection. In the early or late stage of the disease, the viral load in the patient’s body is relatively low. At this time, the antigen detection may not be able to detect, and false negative results are prone to occur. Possibility of missed inspection.
Therefore, further nucleic acid testing should be carried out for both positive and negative antigenic results of suspected populations. Positive results can be used for early triage and rapid management of suspected populations, but cannot be used as the basis for the diagnosis of new coronavirus infection.
Li Kuibiao suggested that citizens can consider using self-testing products if they suspect that they have come into contact with high-risk groups or items and feel a little uncomfortable.
How to buy and use antigen self-test products? Li Kuibiao said that in order to improve the accuracy, it is recommended that citizens take self-tests for 5 consecutive days, once a day, and try to do them at a fixed time. The self-test should be carried out in strict accordance with the instructions in the manual.