The coronavirus Omicron variant, which is more transmissible, has led many people, through rapid antigen tests, to be tested at home to find out if they have been infected with COVID-19. But should people take swabs from the throat and not just the nose when doing such tests?
Some scientists have said that people can transmit Omicron when this variant has infected their throat and saliva, before the virus reaches their nose, so taking swabs through the nose at the beginning of the infection will not detect it.
A recent study in the United States supports this view. PCR tests performed on 29 people infected with Omicron found that it takes an average of three days before swabs taken from the nose come out positive on antigen tests.
In general, rapid tests have lower sensitivity than PCR tests, the data of which are processed in laboratories. This means that quick tests can more often yield erroneous results. But if a person comes out positive, the chances are very high that he is affected by COVID-19, making antigen tests as a powerful tool in the fight against pandemic, as the demand for PCR tests due to Omicron, is overloading laboratories .
As a result of recent studies, some experts in the US have now begun to recommend that people who use antigen tests get swabs first from the throat and then from the nose.
All types of antigen tests that have received approval for emergency use from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration use nasal swabs. This institution has expressed concerns about doing tests at home by taking swabs from the throat, arguing that users of these tests should follow the instructions of the manufacturers of antigen tests.
In Israel, a senior health official has said that people who perform tests for COVID-19 themselves should first have the test done through the throat and then the nose, while using antigen tests, although this may not be recommended by manufacturers. of these tests.
Some countries, including the United Kingdom, have adopted antigen tests that allow tests to be performed through the throat and nose, or just through the nose.
In Germany, the Ministry of Health has said it will study how reliable rapid antigen tests are to detect the Omicron variant and will then publish the list of tests that can be used to detect this variant. / REL
