There are different ways of testing for Covid-19. One of the common methods that are being used by global healthcare systems to test citizens for this virus is polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A PCR test detects the genetic information of the virus, the RNA. This is only possible if the virus is there and someone is actively infected.
PCR tests are used to directly detect the presence of an antigen, as opposed to the presence of the body’s immune response, or antibodies. By detecting the viral RNA, which will be present in the body before antibodies form or symptoms of the disease are present, these tests can help determine whether or not someone has the virus very early on.
PCR testing provides a good indication of who is infected. If a person is found to be infected, they can be isolated and advised to inform people that have been in contact with so they can be quarantined too, just in case. This is the true advantage of the current major diagnostic tests – you can break that transmission chain and get a clearer picture of what is happening.
A PCR test can be scaled to screen vast swathes of nasopharyngeal swab samples from within a population, something that will enable public health officials to get a clearer picture of the spread of a disease like Covid-19 within a population. It is important to note that PCR tests can be very labor intensive, with a number of stages at which errors may occur between sampling and analysis. It is also possible for false negatives to occur up to 30 percent of the time with different PCR tests, meaning they are more useful for confirming the presence of an infection and not giving a patient the all-clear.
For more information on a PCR test, visit our website at https://www.harleymedic.co.uk/