COVID-19 Diagnostics Outside and Inside the National Health Service: A Single Institutional Experience

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has been going on continuously for more than 1.5 years. Fast and reliable diagnosis is a key component of an outbreak response strategy. Our goal is to present the statistics from one of the diagnostic points of a large city in Poland. Swabs of the throat or nasopharynx of people reporting for molecular diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2 presence were taken. CE-IVD-certified RNA isolation and RT-PCR assays were used. According to our data, the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the examined population equaled 14.7%; however, large differences were observed depending on where the sampling point was located: as much as 50.3% of positive results for samples collected at a stationary point, 36.2% for samples from inpatients and hospital staff, and only 8.9% for samples from patients whose test was paid by their employer. The age structure of the infected population was fairly even, with a slightly higher number of people over 50 years of age. Men were examined more often, but it was among women that a higher percentage of infection was recorded. Every fifth test was performed for a foreigner, but compared to Poles, a much lower incidence of infection was found in these samples. We conclude that due to the high prevalence of infection in patients from social care centers and in those referred to hospitals, it is recommended that a special sanitary regime is followed in those settings. We will evaluate the effectiveness of vaccinations, expecting that the coming months bring positive changes in the statistics on prevalence.

Viral Etiological Agent(s) of Respiratory Tract Infections in Symptomatic Individuals during the Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Single Drive-Thru Mobile Collection Site Study

“…The present study includes clinical specimens from patients with suspected COVID-19 who presented for testing during the second wave of the pandemic at a drive-thru mobile collection point located in Mazovia. Most epidemiological studies on COVID-19 to date have rarely focused on samples taken from individuals at MCSs; the majority of investigations have involved hospital patients whose parameters could be followed during hospitalization [25,[27][28][29]. The number of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases identified in the NMI reflected a nationwide trend [26], with a peak in November, then a decline until February and another increase in March (Figure 2), which was covered by the global data [24].…”

“…The study group consisted of 454 female (52.85% of SARS-CoV-2 positive) and 405 male (47.15% of SARS-CoV-2 positive) (p = 0.1722). The most frequent cases were identified in the 36-64 age group with n = 491 (48.0% of all tested and 94.79% of viral positive in this age group) and [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] with n = 164 (47.95% of all tested and 93.71% of viral positive in this age group), followed by those aged ≥65 with n = 173 (41.0% of all tested and 96.65% of viral positive in this age group), 6-18 with n = 24 (38.1% of all tested and 88.89% of viral positive in this age group), and 0-5 with n = 7 (17.5% of all tested and 63.64% of viral positive in this age group). The co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 with other respiratory pathogens was found in 17 specimens (0.9% of all tested, 1.87% of viral positive, and 1.94% of SARS-CoV-2 positive).…”

Molecular Diagnostic Tools against SARS-CoV-2 in Poland in 2022

“…Detection of amplicons is possible thanks to the use of fluorescent dyes, with the growth of products being monitored in real time. Real-time RT-PCR remains the most popular molecular method in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in Poland and Europe [ 8 , 9 ]. Its advantages are its simplicity, high accessibility, high sensitivity, and high specificity, as well as the fact that the tests based on this method can be quantitative.…”

Rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 using disposal paper capacitive sensor

“…There are many ways being developed for reliable and accurate test of SARS-COV-2 infection such as real-time Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) [ 2 ] Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) [ 4 ], Antibody Test [ 5 ], CT image screening [ 6 , 7 ], ACE 2 based capacitive sensor [ 8 ], FET based biosensor [ 9 ] etc. Among the above diagnosis techniques, viral gene detection through rRT-PCR and human antibody detection though Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays(ELISA) are used medical practices approved by Medical councils such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [ 10 ], National Health Service (NHS) [ 11 ], Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) [ 12 ] etc. Although rRT-PCR is highly specific to the detection of SARS-COV-2, it requires multiple steps along with the several costly reagents, enzyme and special machines to amplify the gene sequence and measure through florescent light [ 13 ].…”