As you all know, Covid-19 has attacked our land. In fact, they have successfully killed millions of our kind. We must not stay silent and must quickly take action.
But how can we fight an invisible enemy?
We cant even have a face to face fight as they are on a different dimension from us. Plus, we don't even know if we are already one of the infected victim of the virus.
That's when these test kits comes into action!
Currently, there are various type of test kit created for this identification purpose. But in this post, I will be only focusing on Antibody and Antigen Rapid Test Kit.
COVID-19 pandemic
known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China.
Diagnosis
At the present time, the best method of identifying SARS-CoV-2 inside a person's body are by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing of infected secretions or CT imaging of the chest.
However, those methods are cash and time consuming. Fortunately, there are antibody and antigen rapid testing that can also play its role for the sole purpose of finding the ultimate vaccine for SARS-CoV-2.
Antibody Rapid Test Kit
By using an immunoglobulin (Ig), which is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize pathogens such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the pathogen, called an antigen, via the fragment antigen-binding (Fab) variable region.
The concept of antibody rapid test is detected in the blood of people who are suspected of SARS-CoV-2. Those antibodies are produce as a sign that they show the body’s efforts to fight off the virus. Hence, it is best to be used after infected body's have fully develop the immune system in around 1-3 weeks of infection. Due to that, the limitation of this rapid test kit is not having quite accurate result whether its positive or negative virus carrier. But false positive results can be minimized by choosing an antibody test with high specificity and by testing populations and people who are likely to have had COVID-19.
Still it is compulsory to all including me and you to follow the SOP in this new norm. However by of having antibody test kit, researchers can predict the future affect of this pandemic and also will surely leads to the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine soon.
Further info's through this website:
Antigen Rapid Test Kit
These are substances that provoke an immune response. Highly variable with different structural conformations and is usually composed of different epitopes. Exists in all types of cells especially can be found in viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
Antigen rapid tests method are actually using immunoassays that detect the presence of a specific SARS-CoV-2 viral antigen, which implies current viral infection. Antigen tests are currently authorized to be performed on nasopharyngeal or nasal swab specimens placed directly into the assay’s extraction buffer or reagent. It is a rapid diagnostic test suitable for point-of-care testing that directly detects the presence or absence of an antigen.
The bad news of using this test kit is that they are inherently less sensitive and making things worse, that signal gets diluted when samples are mixed with the liquid needed to enable the material to flow across test strips. But for pros is that this kit is actually fast result and cost less then any other method in identify infected people. They don’t require the expensive equipment and chemicals to perform PCR. Hence, making it likely that SARS-CoV-2 carrier that missed on the first round would be flagged on the second screening.
Further info's through this website:
Types of rapid kits use for COVID-19
