Low performance of rapid antigen detection test as frontline testing for COVID-19 diagnosis

Abstract

Background: Ensuring accurate diagnosis is essential to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and for the clinical management of COVID-19. Although real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the current recommended laboratory method to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 acute infection, several factors such as requirement of special equipment and skilled staff limit the use of these time-consuming molecular techniques. Recently, several easy to perform rapid antigen detection tests were developed and recommended in some countries as the first line of diagnostic. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performances of the Coris COVID-19 Ag Respi-Strip test, a rapid immunochromatographic test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen, in comparison to RT-qPCR. Results: 148 nasopharyngeal swabs were tested. Amongst the 106 positive RT-qPCR samples, 32 were detected by the rapid antigen test, given an overall sensitivity of 30.2%. All the samples detected positive with the antigen rapid test were also positive with RT-qPCR. Conclusions: Higher viral loads are associated with better antigen detection rates. Unfortunately, the overall poor sensitivity of the COVID-19 Ag Respi-Strip does not allow using it alone as the frontline testing for COVID-19 diagnosis.

De Novo Discovery of High Affinity Peptide Binders for the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

“…Improved diagnostics are a topic of intense COVID-19 research as they may provide rapid, reliable and early detection. 38 While direct detection suffers from low sensitivity, 10,39 the rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2 is critical for patient contact tracing, identifying hosts, and epidemiologic studies. [2][3][4] The peptides discovered by our platform may provide a useful SARS-CoV-2 detection modality to help achieve these goals.…”

“…[6][7][8] Direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 has been proposed in scalable, rapidly deployed formats, but often suffers from low sensitivity that limits effectivity in general population testing. 9,10 Thus, the discovery of additional reagents to enable early and rapid SARS-CoV-2 detection and/or neutralization is critical.…”

Analytical sensitivity and clinical sensitivity of the three rapid antigen detection kits for detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus

“…Since then, many new RAD kits are commercially available. Data on the performance of RAD kits varied between different studies and different brands [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] ]. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess analytical sensitivity of the three SARS-CoV-2 RAD kits by means of limit of detection (LOD) using a set of serial tenfold dilution samples; and clinical sensitivity in detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus in different types of respiratory specimens.…”

Panbio antigen rapid test is reliable to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first 7 days after the onset of symptoms

“…A more rapid and high-throughput method is in growing demand. (1,2) Until now, the use of antigen detection tests alone had been ruled out and not recommended due to their low sensitivity (3)(4)(5). Previously in the first wave, several easy to perform rapid antigen detection tests were developed as the first line of diagnostic.…”