RAPID DETECTION OF SARS COV-2 INFECTION IN COMPARISION WITH RT-PCR IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2023.v16i4.46899Keywords:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, Rapid antigen test, Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, Sensitivity, SpecificityAbstract
Objectives: The goal of the present study was to assess the SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test’s performance features and compare them to the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, the gold standard test for the diagnosis of COVID-19 cases.
Methods: From October 2020 to May 2021, patients attending the OPD, including those undergoing surgery, at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Telangana provided 1000 respiratory samples, primarily nasopharyngeal swabs. A skilled technician had collected two nasopharyngeal swabs from each person in a COVID sample collection room while wearing personal protective equipment and following strict infection control procedures. One swab was used for the rapid antigen test given by the standard Q COVID-19 Ag test kit and placed into the extraction buffer tube. Second swab was kept in the viral transport medium and used for Allplex™ 2019-nCoV Assay (Seegene, Korea), which targets envelope gene (E), and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and nucleocapsid (N) genes of SARS CoV-2, was used for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Results: Out of 1000 samples tested for COVID-19, 623 (63.7%) were males and 377 (36.3%) were females. Out of 1000 samples, 347 samples were RT-PCR positive and 653 were RT-PCR negative. Out of 347 RT-PCR samples positive, 341 were Rapid antigen test positive samples and six were negative. Overall sensitivity and specificity are 98.27% and 99.85%, respectively.
Conclusion: The real-time RT-PCR assay’s sensitivity and specificity were comparable to those of the rapid assay for SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection. It can be utilized for contact tracing measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic in places such as border crossings, airports, interregional bus and train stations, and mass testing campaigns needing quick findings. This is especially true in areas with a high prevalence of the disease.
Downloads
References
Chaimayo C, Kaewnaphan B, Tanlieng N, Athipanyasilp N, Sirijatuphat R, Chayakulkeeree M, et al. Rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection assay in comparison with real-time RT-PCR assay for laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19 in Thailand. Virol J 2020;17:177. doi: 10.1186/s12985-020-01452-5, PMID 33187528
Mohanty A, Kabi A, Kumar S, Hada V. Role of rapid antigen test in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in India. J Adv Med Med Res 2020;32:77-80. doi: 10.9734/jammr/2020/v32i1830657
Hirotsu Y, Maejima M, Shibusawa M, Nagakubo Y, Hosaka K, Amemiya K, et al. Comparison of automated SARS-CoV-2 antigen test for COVID-19 infection with quantitative RT-PCR using 313 nasopharyngeal swabs, including from seven serially followed patients. Int J Infect Dis 2020;99:397-402. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.08.029, PMID 32800855
Krüttgen A, Cornelissen CG, Dreher M, Hornef MW, Imöhl M, Kleines M. Comparison of the SARS-CoV-2 Rapid antigen test to the real star Sars-CoV-2 RT PCR kit. J Virol Methods 2021;288:114024. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2020.114024, PMID 33227341
Peña M, Ampuero M, Garcés C, Gaggero A, García P, Velasquez MS, et al. Performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test compared with real-time RT-PCR in asymptomatic individuals. Int J Infect Dis 2021;107:201-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.04.087, PMID 33945868
Schoonjans F. MedCalc’s Diagnostic Test Evaluation Calculator. MedCalc Software. 2020. Available from: https://www.medca: Available from: https://www.lc.org/calc/diagnostictest.php [Last accessed on 2020 Jun 01].
Bullard J, Dust K, Funk D, Strong JE, Alexander D, Garnett L, et al. Predicting infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from diagnostic samples. Clin Infect Dis 2020;71:2663-6. doi: 10.1093/ cid/ciaa638, PMID 32442256
Singanayagam A, Patel M, Charlett A, Bernal JL, Saliba V, Ellis J, et al. Duration of infectiousness and correlation with RT-PCR cycle threshold values in cases of COVID-19, England, January to May 2020. Euro Surveill 2020;25:2001483. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917. ES.2020.25.32.2001483, PMID 32794447
Porte L, Legarraga P, Vollrath V, Aguilera X, Munita JM, Araos R, et al. Evaluation of a novel antigen-based rapid detection test for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory samples. Int J Infect Dis 2020;99:328-33. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.098, PMID 32497809
Cerutti F, Burdino E, Milia MG, Allice T, Gregori G, Bruzzone B, et al. Urgent need of rapid tests for SARS CoV-2 antigen detection: Evaluation of the SD-Biosensor antigen test for SARS-CoV-2. J Clin Virol 2020;132:104654. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104654, PMID 33053494
Buder F, Bauswein M, Magnus CL, Audebert F, Lang H, Kundel C, et al. Contribution of high viral loads, detection of viral antigen and seroconversion to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infectivity. J Infect Dis 2022;225:190-8. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab415, PMID 34427652
Dinnes J, Deeks JJ, Berhane S, Taylor M, Adriano A, Davenport C, et al. Rapid, point-of-care antigen and molecular-based tests for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Cochrane database Syst Rev 2021;24:CD013705. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013705.pub2, PMID 33760236
Jakobsen KK, Jensen JS, Todsen T, Lippert F, Martel CJ, Klokker M, et al. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by rapid antigen test in comparison with RT-PCR in a public setting. medRxiv 2021. doi: 10.1101/2021.01.22.21250042
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Venkatalaxmi Rajamanickam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The publication is licensed under CC By and is open access. Copyright is with author and allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.