The world’s first Covid-19 home test was approved (for emergency use) by the US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday. Performed by Lucira Health, this is a molecular test that is relatively inexpensive (according to the company’s website, it will cost less than $ 50) and quick (30 minutes). The company also claims that the product was 94% more accurate than the gold standard RT-PCR test in identifying positive cases and 98% as accurate in identifying negative ones, making the home test fast, relatively inexpensive, and precise.
On Wednesday, news reports said the Feluda test, developed by the Institute for Genomics and Integrative Biology of the Scientific and Industrial Research Council, would be launched in Delhi, but only for use in laboratories. The test, which uses CRISPR, can also be done at home, but it seems that a home version could take some time.
Also read: The Feluda test kit will hit the market on Thursday
Lucira’s test uses a technology called RT-LAMP or reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification. Molecular tests respond to the genetic material of the virus, ribonucleic acid or RNA. But before they do this, the RNA must be converted to complementary DNA or cDNA, which is accomplished by an enzyme called reverse transcriptase and a process called reverse transcription (which is why many people use the terms interchangeably). LAMP then amplifies the cDNA, which is what shows up in the final result. In the case of the Lucira test, this is through a unit whose LED indicators change color.
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Quick, accurate and inexpensive tests are the key to controlling the pandemic. Fast, inexpensive, and accurate home tests are even better. However, RT-LAMP tests are not based on a revolutionary new technology. They have been around for years. In May, Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan announced that a CSIR lab would work with a branch of India’s largest industrial conglomerate, Reliance, to commercialize its own cheap and rapid RT-LAMP tests for Covid. That hasn’t happened yet though, in October a Kochi-based company Agappe Diagnostics released its own LAMP test for Covid-19, albeit for use in labs. The Agappe test has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
It is possible that the announcement of an approval for Lucira’s home test could open the floodgates; Reliable home testing will remove a critical bottleneck in the current testing and diagnostic process, helping to break the chain of infections. The Indian Ministry of Health and ICMR should work to make accurate home tests available to those who need them (read it as those with symptoms or who have been exposed to an infected person; the FDA has said that the home test for Lucira will require a prescription).
Also read: Covid-19 lockdowns test the economic resilience of desperate Americans
P.S: I normally avoid posting scripts, but a recent article (based on research) sheds more light on the immunity of those already infected with Covid-19 to reinfection, something that Dispatch 204 on November 13 discussed in the context of the findings of the last round. from the sero survey of Delhi. In the document, uploaded Nov. 16 to the bioRXiv preprint server, researchers at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, California, and others, claim (based on a study of 185 Covid-19 patients) that many patients retain cells. immune capable of recognizing and fighting disease even six months after infection. This adds to a growing volume of evidence that while infected people may not show traces of specific antibodies that fight the Sars-CoV-2 virus after some time, this does not mean a loss of immunity, as many possess B cells and T- cells that can remember and fight the virus. In theory, this means that vaccines should provide the same duration of protection.
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