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Latest Prevention & Wellness News<\/h3>\n
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FRIDAY, Sept. 18, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Yet another rapid COVID-19<\/a> test has proven its mettle in spotting<\/a> infection with the new coronavirus, this time in a British study.<\/p>\n The lab-in-a-cartridge testing device — which can be performed at bedside, doesn’t require a laboratory, and can be performed in cartridges smaller than a mobile phone — was tested on 386 National Health Service staff and patients in Britain.<\/p>\n The test had 94% sensitivity and 100% specificity, meaning it had a high level of accuracy and produced very few false negatives and no false positives. The results are available within 90 minutes, while conventional COVID-19<\/a> tests provide results within 24 hours, the researchers said. The findings were published Sept. 17 in The Lancet Microbe<\/i> journal.<\/p>\n In the United States, four rapid coronavirus tests have already been developed. These tests detect COVID-19<\/a> antigens, proteins found on the surface of the coronavirus, rather than the virus itself, according to the Associated Press<\/i>. It’s considered a faster, but less precise, screening method.<\/p>\n One of these tests, made by Abbott Laboratories and called BinaxNOW, has already secured a $760 million deal with the White House to produce 150 million rapid nasal swab tests for community testing, according to the AP<\/i>.<\/p>\n The 15-minute BinaxNOW test will sell for $5, giving it an edge over similar tests that need to be popped into a small machine, the AP<\/i> reported. No larger than a credit card, the Abbott test is based on the same technology used to test for the flu<\/a>, strep throat<\/a> and other infections.<\/p>\n “Those [rapid] screening tests are what we need in schools, workplaces and nursing<\/a> homes in order to catch asymptomatic spreaders,” Dr. Jonathan Quick, an adjunct professor of global health at Duke University in North Carolina, told the AP<\/i>.<\/p>\n With the British test, a nose swab from a patient is inserted into the cartridge device, which analyzes the sample for genetic material belonging to SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 virus.<\/p>\n The new test is being used at eight London hospitals, and is due to be rolled out at a national level. The U.K. government recently placed an order for 5.8 million of the testing kits.<\/p>\n “These results suggest the test, which can be performed at a patient’s bedside without the need to handle any sample material, has comparable accuracy to standard laboratory testing,” said study author Graham Cooke. He is a professor in the department of infectious disease at Imperial College London.<\/p>\n “Many tests involve a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but this test manages to achieve both,” Cooke said in a college news release.<\/p>\n The test — made by DnaNudge, an Imperial College London start-up — is now being developed to simultaneously check for COVID-19<\/a>, influenza<\/a> and respiratory syncytial virus<\/a>, the researchers added.<\/p>\n Chris Toumazou is CEO and co-founder of DnaNudge and founder of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. He said, “The DnaNudge test was developed as a lab-free, on-the-spot consumer service that can be delivered at scale, so we clearly believe it offers very significant potential in terms of mass population testing during the COVID-19<\/a> pandemic.”<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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