A comparative study: Results of rapid antigen detection assay and real time RT-PCR for diagnosis of COVID-19 in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Introduction: December 2019, witnessed the emergence of a novel coronavirus in human population. Later named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has since spread across the globe and results into coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate COVID-19 infection positivity rate, its age and gender wise prevalence and to compare the results of rapid antigen detection test with gold standard real time RT-PCR for early detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus. Methods: An observational study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Secunderabad, Telangana. Results: A total of 208 patients’ specimens (nasopharyngeal swab) were compared within a period of one and half month. Infection positivity rate was observed as 26.92% (n=56). Our study revealed that among all 56 COVID-19 positive patients, 60.71% (n=34) were symptomatic whereas 39.2% (n=22) were asymptomatic. Conclusion: We conclude that after comparing with real time RT-PCR, antigen detection assay is not as sensitive as molecular test especially during the early stages of infection but this has potential to become an important tool for mass screening for COVID-19 and can be considered as fast and economic diagnostic tools in the remote areas where the laboratory facilities for molecular tests are not accessible.

Keywords

• covid-19
• pandemic
• nasopharyngeal swab
• rapid antigen detection assay
• real time rt-pcr