How does Rapid Antigen Test Kits Work

In March this year, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council formulated and issued the "New Coronavirus Antigen Detection Application Plan (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Application Plan"). It is also understood that at present, residents, school teachers and students in many places also use the method of antigen detection for screening.

What is a novel coronavirus antigen test? How is it different from nucleic acid testing? What should I pay attention to before, during and after the test? Experts remind that after completing the antigen self-test, there is a key step that must not be done wrong, otherwise, all previous efforts may be lost!

Antigen test: easy to operate and quick results

Li Kuibiao, deputy director of the Virus Immunity Department of the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, introduced that in terms of detection principles, antigens are like the "clothes" worn on the outside of the virus, while nucleic acids are the genes inside the virus. The principle of the new coronavirus antigen detection method is to detect Whether there is a new coronavirus protein in the specimen.

The antigen detection kit is about two fingers long and wide, about the size of a U disk. Compared with the nucleic acid detection method, it is easy to operate and produces fast results. Liu Min, director of the Medical Laboratory Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, said that according to the existing detection technology, the nucleic acid test for the new coronavirus will take an hour to obtain the results at the fastest. Antigen testing only takes ten minutes, and does not require special instrument testing. It can be done at home and is an effective supplement to nucleic acid testing.

"Antigen test can be used at home or in primary medical institutions. It is as simple as using a pregnancy test stick to detect pregnancy. If residents do not take nasopharyngeal swabs for self-testing at home, they can also take pharyngeal swabs." Li Kuibiao Say.

Got it! These three types of people are suitable for antigen detection

According to the "New Coronavirus Antigen Detection Application Plan (Trial)" issued by the National Health and Medical Commission on March 11, it is clearly pointed out that the suitable population for antigen detection includes three categories:

The first category is people who seek medical treatment in primary medical and health institutions, have respiratory symptoms, fever and other symptoms and have symptoms within 5 days;

The second category of isolation observation personnel, including home isolation observation, close contact and sub-close contact, entry isolation observation, closed and controlled areas and personnel in control areas;

The third category is community residents who need antigen self-testing.

Read the result: two red bands indicate a positive result

According to Dr. Chen Peisong of the Medical Laboratory Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, the detection process of the new coronavirus antigen detection kit is similar on the whole. He introduced a novel coronavirus antigen detection kit (colloidal gold method kit), which is widely used in clinical practice, as an example. This product mainly includes disposable sterile sampling swabs and novel coronavirus antigen detection kit (colloidal gold method) samples. Extraction solution, new crown antigen detection kit (colloidal gold method), instruction manual, etc. The kit needs to be properly stored at room temperature. Improper operation will affect the accuracy of the test results.

The test card of the new coronavirus antigen test kit is very similar to the pregnancy test stick. There are two scale lines on the test card: if the C line and the T line both show a red strip, the result is positive ; the C line has a red strip and the T line If there is no line, the result is negative ; if there is no red band at the C line, the test result is inaccurate, and the test should be repeated.

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