Know about COVID-19 Rapid Testing Kits
The COVID-19 test analyzes samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2. The two main branches recognize either the presence of the virus or antibodies that are produced in response to infection. Virus presence tests are used to diagnose individual cases and enable health authorities to detect and contain outbreaks. Instead, antibody tests show whether someone has ever had the disease. They are less useful in diagnosing current infections because antibodies may not develop until weeks after infection. It is used to assess the prevalence of diseases, which helps estimate the infectious mortality rate.
Different jurisdictions have implemented different testing protocols, including who to test, how often to test, analytical protocols, sampling, and the use of test results. This variance is likely to have a significant impact on the statistics reported, including case and test numbers, death rates, and case demographics. Since the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs 2 days after exposure (and before symptoms appear), frequent monitoring and rapid availability of the results is imperative.
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a process that amplifies (replicates) a small, well-defined segment of DNA many hundreds of thousands of times and produces enough of it for analysis. Test samples are treated with certain chemicals that can be used to extract DNA. Reverse transcription converts RNA into DNA.
Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) uses reverse transcription first to obtain DNA, followed by PCR to amplify that DNA, producing enough for analysis. RT-PCR can thus detect SARS-CoV-2, which only contains RNA. The RT-PCR process generally takes a few hours.
Real-time PCR (qPCR) offers benefits such as automation, higher throughput, and more reliable instrumentation. It has become the preferred method.
The combined technique has been described as real-time RT-PCR or quantitative RT-PCR and is sometimes abbreviated as qRT-PCR, rRT-PCR, or RT-qPCR, although RT-PCR or PCR is sometimes used. The Guidelines for Minimum Information for Publication of Real Time Quantitative PCR Experiments (MIQE) suggest the term RT-qPCR, but not all authors adhere to it
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