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. 2020 Aug:129:104455.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104455. Epub 2020 May 21.

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

Anaïs Scohy  1 , Ahalieyah Anantharajah  2 , Monique Bodéus  2 , Benoît Kabamba-Mukadi  2 , Alexia Verroken  2 , Hector Rodriguez-Villalobos  2
Affiliations

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

Anaïs Scohy et al. J Clin Virol. 2020 Aug.

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Rapid antigen detection test; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
COVID-19 Ag Respi-Strip results according to viral load.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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