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People who must be hospitalized, as well as those who have symptoms of coronavirus and cannot be tested by PCR tests in a situation where a large number of new infections are recorded every day, will be tested by antigen tests, which give results in less than half an hour. no special laboratory conditions are required for processing.
Photo: BETAPHOTO / SASA DJORDJEVICThis is defined by the latest testing instructions, developed by the Trampoline Institute of Public Health, and received by health centers a few days ago.
Antigen testing, as a diagnostic method to which the WHO gave the green light, is being included in more and more countries in its protocols due to the speed and the fact that no additional equipment is needed for its processing, as well as the minor price than PCR tests.
Like PCR tests, antigens are obtained from nasal swabs.
Crisis staff member Branislav Tiodorovic previously said that Serbia received between 30,000 and 50,000 of these tests as donations, and that antigen tests would play an important role in detecting asymptomatic patients contributing to the spread of the virus.
According to the last instruction, antigen tests will be used as an alternative to PCR when it is necessary to obtain a result quickly or when the epidemiological situation is such that there are a large number of infected people every day.
As noted, antigen tests should be applied within the first five days after the onset of disease symptoms, after which they are no longer accurate.
At the same time, these tests will be used in the future for patients coming to the hospital for treatment, before being admitted to a health institution.
Until now, serological tests have been used in these situations, which detect the presence of antibodies, and which are not sufficiently reliable because at the beginning of the disease, patients do not develop a sufficient amount of antibodies that the test could detect.
As previously stated by the President of the Union of Physicians and Pharmacists Rade Panić for Danas, the application of serological tests on patients requiring hospital treatment has led to the spread of the corona virus in some hospitals.
Despite all the advantages that stand out when it comes to antigen testing, experts emphasize that PCR remains the “gold standard” in diagnosis.
This means that a positive result in this test is very likely to confirm that the person is infected, while a negative result should be accepted with caution because it “does not rule out infection” and therefore in certain cases it is necessary to test the patient and PCR.
Who can get tested with PCR?
According to the latest instructions given to doctors, the PCR test is performed on people who have been in contact with infected people and who have symptoms of a respiratory infection, including a temperature above 37, with coughing, shortness of breath and Similar. On the other hand, people who show symptoms of a respiratory infection, and do not know if they have been in contact with the infected, will first be analyzed by serological tests, and only if these tests give a positive result, they will be analyzed by PCR.
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