The public health center is tense against rapid antigen tests, although Orbán has also announced their use



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Although we asked the National Center for Public Health (NNK), we did not get an explanation as to why it started a campaign against the use of rapid antigen-based coronavirus tests.

24.hu contacted the NNK because the institution, which plays a central role in controlling the coronavirus epidemic, issued a statement on Sunday Antigen tests are not adequate for detection with the title. The announcement, which brings the entire test family together under one hat, is being prepared by NNK for capital screenings. Gergely Christmas addressed to the mayor. It was written that Christmas is wrong in thinking that the reliability of rapid tests is similar to that of laboratory PCR tests. According to the center, the rapid antigen test, especially for asymptomatic infections, is inaccurate and “most likely a false negative result” even if the disease has been present in the body for a few days.

But monday Viktor Orban He also announced that in addition to the epidemiological hardening, teachers and hospital staff will be evaluated with rapid tests throughout the country, although he added that their reliability is only 50 to 60 percent.

The NNK also did not reveal why the government decided to use rapid tests and whether it sought the opinion of the center. So much has been said that the “target group” rapid test mentioned by the Prime Minister is being planned. They wrote:

As stated and known in the Prime Minister’s announcement, rapid tests provide only 50 to 60 percent certainty, which means that they are not perfect or as reliable as PCR tests. These are selective screening tests that do not trigger any PCR tests that may be required, but allow rapid testing of specific groups.

It is clear from the few-sentence reply that the NNK does not dispute the low level of reliability mentioned by the Prime Minister. However, despite asking the center about the history of the severely negative rating, we received no response.

Rapid tests to detect coronavirus infection were developed on a test station table. Photo: MTI / AP / Niranjan Sresha

The NNK also released a statement on October 9 that it had begun testing rapid tests to effectively diagnose the coronavirus epidemic and speed up diagnosis. As written, the goal is to select the antigen-based rapid assays that best approximate PCR assays in terms of sensitivity.

It is not known if this was found because the results of the comparative study have not been made public until now. However, in the last month, due to the accelerated spread of the epidemic, its use has become widespread. The National Ambulance Service also began using rapid mass tests. The Director General of OMSZ said on M1 on October 21:

The PCR test also does not give results with 100 percent confidence, but currently this and the antigen test are the best in the world.

Gábor Csató According to the new coronavirus, the rapid test also works at 97 percent efficiency, which is supported by the more than 100,000 tests carried out so far.

According to our information, in addition to the ambulance service, a large number of operating state companies and even ministries have purchased large quantities of such products to initiate the detection of Covid of their own employees.

Confidence in rapid tests is explicitly undermined by NNK’s attitude

– said the Hungarian distributor of one of the large European rapid test manufacturers at 24.hu. According to him, the reliability of 50-60 percent was characteristic of some types of rapid antibody tests imported during the first wave, which soon disappeared from the market due to their uselessness, but a significant part of the rapid tests of new generation antigens They belong to a completely different category of reliability.

CEO of Bio-Kasztel Kft., Which also participates in trials in the capital, Barta Judit He stressed that the Italian manufacturer they were marketing had been on the market for rapid tests for decades. Covid’s rapid tests have been aided by the fact that it has long developed devices to detect epidemic diseases, including the Zika virus and drugs. The company obtained an EU license to market the rapid test, which, among other things, determined the effectiveness of the products compared to PCR tests. According to the official result, the quick test works with an accuracy of 98 percent.

Barta also said that a new rapid antigen test, which can determine in a single test whether a symptomatic patient has a Covid infection or has been infected with influenza A or B, can be particularly helpful in the fall flu season, through Difference from PCR tests. the.

Featured image: Balázs Ivándi-Szabó / 24.hu



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