On March 12, the State Food and Drug Administration issued a notice approving the application change of the self-test application of new crown antigen products in Nanjing Novizan, Beijing Jinwolf, Shenzhen Huada Inyuan, Guangzhou Wanfu Biology and Beijing Huaketai Biology. Since then, five new crown antigen self-test products have been officially launched.
The official website of the National Health Commission yesterday issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Application Plan for The Detection of New Coronavirus Antigens (Trial)", supplemented by the addition of antigen testing on the basis of nucleic acid testing, and organized the formulation of the "Application Plan for The Detection of New Coronavirus Antigens (Trial)". In the future, it is expected that by purchasing reagents, you will be able to test yourself for the new crown at home!
The topic quickly rushed to Weibo's hot search.
Many netizens are asking: What does this mean? How do I test myself? In the current anti-epidemic situation, what is the significance of increasing antigen testing as a supplement? The reporter interviewed the experts and made an interpretation.
What does antigen testing mean?
Antigen testing is a test commonly used to detect or identify organisms that cause disease in humans. Antigens are foreign substances or organisms, such as parasites, bacteria, or viruses, that enter the body and stimulate the immune system to produce specific antibodies. Hu Bijie, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases of Zhongshan Hospital, introduced that nucleic acid detection is a high-tech technology, there must be a machine to extract nucleic acids, the whole process is very complicated, can not be completed at home, in contrast, antigen detection has the advantage of simple operation, home can achieve self-testing.
What is the significance of increasing antigen testing?
The significance of antigen testing is that for people in home isolation and centralized isolation, it can be quickly operated and screened. Those who screen for positive results are further diagnosed by professional institutions. It is also generally suitable for such people, or primary hospitals that are not in a position to carry out nucleic acid testing as a rapid screening.
Professor Hu Bijie pointed out that the disadvantages of antigen detection are that the sensitivity is not high, the rate of missed detection is relatively high, and the accuracy is also low compared to nucleic acid detection. The final diagnosis is still a nucleic acid test.
Zhang Wenhong explained in detail
Zhang Wenhong, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases and head of the Shanghai New Crown Pneumonia Clinical Treatment Expert Group, introduced: Antigens are like clothes worn outside the virus, nucleic acid is the gene inside the virus, and the two detection methods are slightly different. The detection method of antigen is to measure clothes from the antibody, and after the specificity is synthesized, the virus can be displayed. Nucleic acid testing is more complex and needs to be done by amplification. Because of the amplification process, the sensitivity of nucleic acid testing will be higher, but the corresponding results will take longer.
Zhang Wenhong said: Antigen detection, similar to the pregnancy test stick for women to detect pregnancy, is a simple and rapid virus detection method. Without the assistance of professionals, and without the intervention of machines, ordinary residents can test themselves at home and get results in a few minutes. Especially for some places where sampling is inconvenient, or because of limited medical conditions, there is no suitable condition to do amplification, antigen detection is a more convenient and rapid way to identify people infected with the new crown virus.
Zhang Wenhong said: The new covid-19 antigen test of the National Health Commission shows that we have realized the rapid spread of the Omilon strain. In the future, if the mainland wants to achieve larger-scale international opening-up, in the face of the risk of potential imported cases, it is necessary to control the virus at a very low level of transmission, and there must be more diversified and rapid detection methods. Only when the amount of detection is guaranteed and the speed of detection is accelerated, can we detect the virus as early as possible, take isolation measures in time, reduce the risk of transmission, and it is possible to achieve "zeroing" of the social surface at a faster speed.
The self-test process is announced
In the pilot plan, it is proposed that community residents who have self-testing needs can purchase antigen testing reagents for self-testing through retail pharmacies, online sales platforms and other channels.
Disposal of test results:
If the antigen test is positive, regardless of whether there are respiratory tract, fever and other symptoms, residents should immediately report to the community (village or town), and the community (village) shall contact the emergency center to transfer the residents to the medical institution that has set up fever clinics for nucleic acid testing in accordance with the guidelines for the transfer of personnel related to the new crown pneumonia epidemic. After the positive person uses the sampling swab, sampling tube, test card, etc., into a sealed bag and transported to the medical institution for medical waste disposal.
Asymptomatic residents with negative antigen tests can be closely observed and then undergo antigen testing or nucleic acid testing when necessary; symptomatic residents are recommended to go to a medical institution that has set up a fever clinic as soon as possible for nucleic acid testing; if it is inconvenient to seek medical treatment, they should self-isolate at home, avoid going out, and conduct antigen self-testing once a day for 5 consecutive days.
Source: CCTV news client, National Health Commission, People's Daily, etc