Abstract

ALMONACID URREGO, Carmen Cecilia; GIRATA PEDRAZA, María Vilma; SALCEDO PRETELT, Irlena  and  ALMONACID URREGO, Isabel Cristina. Role of Rapid Tests (POCT) in the Diagnosis of SARS-VOC-2, Causal Agent of COVID-19. Nova [online]. 2020, vol.18, n.spe35, pp.43-52.  Epub Jan 15, 2021. ISSN 1794-2470.  https://doi.org/10.22490/24629448.4185.

The gold test to detect SARS-CoV-2, the etiologic agent that leads to the pandemic of atypical pneumonia (COVID 2019) that first appeared in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China in December 2019 (1), is the RT-qPCR. The standard protocol involves reverse transcription of SARS-CoV-2 RNA into complementary DNA strands (cDNA), followed by the amplification of cDNA specific regions, a procedure that takes several hours to complete and which results in the final information from the infection status can take up to 24 hours. For this reason, and due to the need to reduce the risk of possible viral spread within the population caused by the fast transmission of SARS-CoV-2, in order to prevent nosocomial spread and subsequent community transmission through the quick identification of suspected cases, and to predict the further infectious waves of viral recurrence, rapid laboratory methods or Point of Care Testing (POCT) are being developed to reduce the diagnosis time and minimize the risk of contagion by the operators. These tests are discussed below.

Keywords : Human coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; POCT.

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