A review of current effective COVID-19 testing methods and quality control

Abstract

COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which primarily affects the respiratory system and can lead to severe illness. The virus is extremely contagious, early and accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 is crucial to contain its spread, to provide prompt treatment, and to prevent complications. Currently, the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is considered to be the gold standard for detecting COVID-19 in its early stages. In addition, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LMAP), clustering rule interval short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay (GICA), computed tomography (CT), and electrochemical sensors are also common tests. However, these different methods vary greatly in terms of their detection efficiency, specificity, accuracy, sensitivity, cost, and throughput. Besides, most of the current detection methods are conducted in central hospitals and laboratories, which is a great challenge for remote and underdeveloped areas. Therefore, it is essential to review the advantages and disadvantages of different COVID-19 detection methods, as well as the technology that can enhance detection efficiency and improve detection quality in greater details.

Development of a Melting-Curve-Based Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay for the Simultaneous Detection of Viruses Causing Respiratory Infection

“…For SARS-CoV-2, genes encoding RdRp (ORF1ab) and N (gene: N) proteins were selected for primer design in this study. These genes have been recognized as reliable targets for NAATs [45][46][47]. Indeed, most available NAATs for detecting SARS-CoV-2 contain redundancies to avoid targeting failures resulting from viral genomic mutations [45].…”

COVID-19: what do we know so far?

“…Os testes moleculares se baseiam na identificação da sequência de nucleotídeos do material genético do patógeno investigado (POLATOĞLU et al, 2023;DONG et al, 2023;CHENG et al, 2023) POLATOĞLU et al, 2023;HU et al, 2021;DONG et al, 2023;CHENG et al, 2023).…”

“…Mesmo sendo considerado o teste padrão de referência, o PCR demanda equipamentos de alto custo e um profissional capacitado para interpretar o resultado (MAIA et al, 2022;DONG et al, 2023;CHENG et al, 2023). O resultado pode estar disponível em até 2 horas se o equipamento de análise estiver no local de coleta (POLATOĞLU et al, 2023).…”

Development and evaluation of time-resolved rapid immunofluorescence test for detection of TSOL18 specific antibody in porcine cysticercosis infections

“…At present, there are a variety of immunochromatographic methods on the market. The test strips based on gold nanoparticles are very common in the market, but different batches of products vary greatly [ 16 ]. Moreover, the chromaticity and colloidal stability of gold nanoparticles are suboptimal, resulting in diminished sensitivity of the colloidal gold test strip [ 16 ].…”

“…The test strips based on gold nanoparticles are very common in the market, but different batches of products vary greatly [ 16 ]. Moreover, the chromaticity and colloidal stability of gold nanoparticles are suboptimal, resulting in diminished sensitivity of the colloidal gold test strip [ 16 ]. One of the main drawbacks of traditional fluorescence quantitative analysis is background interference [ 17 ].…”