Antigen tests (rapid testing) for coronavirus, which have the great advantage that they give results in a few minutes, they are less sensitive to Omicron mutation than in previous ones, the American health authorities warned yesterday, Tuesday (28/12). This means that tests of this kind are likely to give false negative results, even if someone is infected with Omicron.
"Preliminary data suggest that antigen tests do detect the Omicron variant, but have reduced sensitivity," said a statement from the US Federal Drug Administration.FDA).
However, he noted that continues to recommend their use, in compliance with the instructions for use. "If someone gets a negative result after taking an antigen test, but there are suspicions that he has been infected (…), for example if he has symptoms (of COVID-19"or a high probability of infection due to exposure, it is important to do a molecular test (s.s. PCR test)," said the organization.
Antigen tests look for antigens on the surface of the virus, while molecular tests look for its genetic material, as transmitted by APE-MPE. The former were already less sensitive than the latter, the FDA recalled. The sensitivity of these tests is further reduced due to multiple mutations of the Omicron variant.
Nevertheless, antigen tests are considered useful by experts in general, as they can often be performed at home, at low cost, helping to control the pandemic.
In the US, home screening kits, which are becoming increasingly popular, are now depleted, in part due to the rapid increase in infections attributed mainly to Omicron and in part due to the end-of-year holidays.
Last week, the president Joe Biden announced the buy 500 million quick tests that can be made at home. Americans will be able to order them through a special website that will be operational from January.
via: Newsbeast