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The speed of diagnosis, reliability and price are arguments of increasing weight for these detection tests in the fight against covid-19.
The key word is Panbio. Two recent studies by Spanish scientists, not yet published in scientific journals, analyze the high capacity of the Panbio antigen test (from Abbot Laboratories) in the effective detection of Covid-19 infection, a fact that could represent the most interesting twist of the current battle against the coronavirus while the desired vaccine arrives. Panbio shows a tiny amount of false positives, and the false negatives refer to people with a very low viral load, who do not spread the disease; These are the conclusions of Dr. Oriol Mitjá, from the Germans Trías i Pujol Hospital in Badalona (Barcelona), who compares this antigen test with the better known PCR. “PCR is so sensitive that it sometimes detects positives in people who are not infectious. The antigen has the advantage that it does not detect them." In addition, the current antigen tests detect contagious cases even if they are asymptomatic. The second study, which coincides in fundamental lines with that of Mitjá, was carried out at the Hospital Valencia Clinic.
Renewed reliability of antigen tests
Antigen tests were widely rejected by the scientific community in the first months of fighting the pandemic, due to their very low effectiveness, which stood at just 30%. The second generation of these tests, available since last September, obtains records of greater than 95% effectiveness in detecting the virus. In addition, the test is less invasive, since a brush is used that does not require deep introduction into the nasal passage; What we are looking for is specific proteins (antigens) that are present on the surface of the virus.
