Clinical assessment of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity by rapid antigen test compared with virus isolation
Journal
Journal of clinical virology plus
Journal Volume
3
Journal Issue
1
Date Issued
2023-02
Author(s)
Lee, Wen-Hau
Hu, Hui-Chun
Lin, Yi-Chun
Ho, Shu-Yuan
Chen, Hui-Hou
Chen, Cheng-Pin
Tsai, Ya-Min
Fang, Jun-Tung
Leong, Si-Man
Cheng, Yu-Chen
Peng, Mavis
Cheng, Shu-Hsing
Cheng, Chien-Yu
Abstract
Although real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) remains as a golden standard for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, it can not be easily expanded to large-scaled screening during outbreaks, and the positive results do not necessarily correlate with infectious status of the identified subjects. In this study, the performance of Vstrip® RV2 COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (RAT) and its correlation with virus infectivity was examined by virus culture using 163 sequential respiratory specimens collected from 26 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. When the presence of cytopathic effects (CPE) in cell culture was used as a reference method for virus infectivity, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of Vstrip® RV2 COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test was 96.43%, 89.63%, and 90.8%, respectively. The highest Ct value was 27.7 for RdRp gene and 25.79 for E gene within CPE-positive samples, and the highest Ct value was 31.9 for RdRp gene and 29.1 for E gene within RAT positive samples. When the Ct values of specimens were below 25, the CPE and RAT results had high degree of consistency. We concluded that the RAT could be a great alternative method for determining the infectious potential of individuals with high viral load.
Subjects
Infectivity; Rapid antigen test; Real-time RT-PCR; SARS-COV-2
SDGs
Publisher
ELSEVIER
Type
journal article