Coronavirus, molecular test in the US that gives answers in 13 minutes: ambulance swab, result in the emergency room

It is able to detect the Coronavirus in about 5 minutes and to give a result negative, in case of absence of contagion, in 13 minutes. It is a new one test molecular developed by the US pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories, for which the American Food and Drug Administration (Fda) has authorized the use with an ad hoc procedure emergency. Next week the new diagnostic kits should be available, currently only for States United, with the possibility of distributing 50 thousand a day. “Hopefully we can use it, it would be basic have it available when we resume activities, obviously together with masks and other protective devices, “he comments to ilfattoquotidiano.it Roberto Burioni, professor of Microbiology and virology at the Vita-Salute University of San Raffaele of Milan, which already interviewed by Fabio Fazio to ‘What’s the weather like“, He stressed the importance of test kidnapped on swabs. Just as the President of the National Federation of Medical Orders has done in the last few hours (Fnomceo) Filippo Anelli.

THE NEW TEST – For Burioni if ​​the portable molecular test ID NOW COVID-19 of Abbott Laboratories were validated, would allow “ai patients today in isolation with the symptoms of getting tested on board ambulances under the house, given his reduced dimensions“. But it would also be useful to have the results directly in the Ready rescue, without having to bring the samples to the workshops agreement. The test uses an existing technology, Id Now, which has been used since 2014 for influence and others infections viral of the respiratory tract and this time adapted for Coronavirus. The diagnostic tool has the size of a toaster. Biological samples are collected through the buffer, from the nose and from pharynx and are mixed with reagents chemicals. The reduction in the time for diagnosis is due to the fact that inside appliance, there is a small section of theRNA of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which is amplified making it faster the identification genetic material. A problem could be the shortage of devices needed to collect patient samples, such as masks and tampons. For the Food and Drug Administration “It is reasonable to believe that the product can be effective in diagnosing Covid-19”, while “i benefits known and potential ”of the test outweigh any risks.

THE APPEAL – “I appeal to government to take seriously the possibility of asking the States United to open up to the European market, perhaps at prices tiered, the Covid-19 rapid diagnostic tests, available today only in American territory“Is the appeal launched by the senator in these hours Saverio De Bonis, who remembers how, to recover the delay in mapping the contagion, the US authority in recent weeks has approved i test diagnostic rapid also from other companies, which however require laboratories and work tables. There Abbott, which also has its own branch in Italy, will produce five million tests per month, but only for American.

OTHER AUTHORIZED TESTS – Last week the FDA had already authorized other tests developed by Mesa Biotech is Cepheid. The latter provides results in about 45 minutes. Most of the tests developed so far, it takes from a few hours to days to receive results. And then there is the Simplexa Covid-19 Direct Kit produced by Diasorin Molecular LLC, division of Diasorin, the Italian pharmaceutical multinational based in Saluggia (Vercelli), experimented in the institute Spallanzani of Rome and in Policlinico San Matteo of Pavia, even the one approved by authority American and European. The test provides the diagnosis in an hour. From April they should arrive in Italy 100 thousand kits. Even the German multinational Bosch has made a test of molecular diagnostics, which is performed by the analysis device Vivalytic by Bosch Healthcare Solutions. The test allows you to detect an infection from Coronavirus in less than two and a half hours. It will be available in Germany starting from April, to then land in the others markets (not only European).

QUICK TESTS ON WITHDRAWALS – In these days there is a lot discussed also of the use of rapid tests on antibodies performed through the withdrawal of blood. Burioni himself said they will important after the emergency, to understand how many there really are sick and how many have become immune. “To date there are dozens of companies in Italy and all over the world who are or have already developed similar tests using different methodologies and techniques “explains a ilfattoquotidiano.it the virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco, medical director of theGaleazzi Institute of Milan. Who underlines: “Since the production of these tools, for those who work in this field, it is not difficult, there are many companies that they are trying and I think they are one about fifty those developed, but I would say that so far no one has yet found the recipe right“. In these hours the operation of some tests is already being examined by theHigher Institute of Health.

If the buffer, through an analysis of molecular biology, manages to identify the presence in our organism of the genome of virus, which also remains after the healing clinic, “The quick tests on antibodies are carried out with a withdrawal of blood – explains Pregliasco – and they can be useful to epidemiological purpose especially once the emergency is over. ” These tests, in fact, measure the reaction of thebody and the production of specific antibodies against virus. There are two types of specific antibodies: IgM is IgG. “The value of the first – underlines the virologist – rises in the initial phase of the disease and it seems to become positive after about 5 days from contagion, then drop. Instead, the IgG antibodies remain, those of memory, which become positive 14 days after the infection. The problem of tests on antibodies is that they still need to be validated. ” How long will that take? “I believe about a month“. As confirmation Burioni, to date “do not exist test rapid for antibodies of proven usefulness for the diagnosis of acute infection of Covid19“.

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