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Covid-19 tests: the dubious practices of certain pharmacies

2020-09-23T13:13:54.856Z


Pharmacies claim that their test, from a droplet of blood, called "Trod", allows us to know if we have Covid-19. In reality,


Can I find out if I have Covid-19 by taking the test in a pharmacy?

In any case, this is the tempting promise of some pharmacies, claiming to offer an alternative to the monster queues in front of the labs.

Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.

To verify this, we go through the door of a first sign at the Green Cross, in the center of Paris, claiming to have been in contact for six days.

" Oh no!

we are answered straight away at the counter.

The rapid test that we are doing lets you know if you have been in contact with the virus in recent weeks.

He explains: "You can tell if you've had the virus before, but not if you're positive now.

For that, go to a lab!

" The message is clear.

A few streets further on, near the Louvre, we questioned another pharmacy with more dubious practices.

This time around, the discourse changes dramatically.

"Indeed, the test allows you to see if you have antibodies, but it can also tell if you have the Covid", answers the pharmacist, before slipping away, time to prepare her equipment.

A few minutes later, she returns with a tray, in her hand, with compresses, hydroalcoholic gel, and disinfectant lotion.

Using a lancing device, she takes a drop of blood from my fingertip and places it on a kit containing a reagent.

“Several times a day”, she tells us, patients with symptoms of Covid, contact cases come here, discouraged by the crowd gathered in front of the medical centers and the results delays of up to 10 days.

"So, it is 12:10 pm, we will have the answer at 12:20 pm, give me your email, you will also have a written record.

Here it is 20 euros.

"

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All you have to do is wait.

Two minutes later, her colleague pouted, scrutinizing the case that looked like a pregnancy test.

"Have you been in contact with a sick person, ma'am?"

Do you have symptoms?

No, because I have the impression that you are possibly positive, look… If so, you will have to confirm the result in a lab ”, she warns me.

Surprising ... A few days earlier, a more reliable PCR screening revealed that I did not have the virus.

Eight minutes later, false alarm, verdict: negative.

"We took vitamin C, it's the best!"

Can I resume a normal life?

“Yes, if you don't have symptoms!

Protect yourself well, ”she tells me.

"You have to strengthen your immune system against Covid", continues the pharmacist who has just tested me.

Is that so?

"We took vitamin C, D, zinc, that… that's the best, I recommend it, thanks to that, we haven't had it, although we've seen a lot of patients since then. March.

However, there is no evidence that it is effective against the virus.

On the opposite sidewalk, a few numbers away, I repeat my question in another sign.

Can I do a quick test instead of the swab in the nose in the lab if I have had contact for six days?

"Wait a day or two more," I am advised.

Could I know if I am infected?

Is the result reliable?

Yes, always yes, repeat the white coats to me in unison.

And obviously, this (fake) news of super-fast screenings down the street seems to have spread.

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“Three weeks ago, our management strongly encouraged us to go for a test,” says Laura, in her thirties, who works in a cultural institution in Paris.

We were told there were new ones, in pharmacies for only 15 euros and my company would reimburse me for it.

I thought to myself,

perfect, I'm doing it!

"

"It's okay, you don't have it"

Immediately, she walks through the door of a dispensary with her colleague.

In five minutes, the pharmacist pricks her finger in the back room - "it was totally painless" - and a few minutes later, a ticket comes out.

“She said to me:

It's okay, you don't have it and you haven't been in contact with the virus.

A relief for Laura who had never been tested before.

“I was a bit perky, it gave me some peace of mind.

"

These tests make it possible to detect antibodies against Sars-Cov-2 ... And yet, not all patients produce them, even if they have been infected. / LP / Aurélie Audureau  

His colleague's turn.

Same verdict, no virus in sight or trace of infection according to the test carried out in pharmacy.

The two friends are ticking.

However, he did have the Covid-19, a laboratory screening and a blood test confirmed it.

“The pharmacist retorted, saying:

When?

At the start of confinement?

Ah, that was a long time ago, that's why, so you don't have any more antibodies

”.

The experience puzzles Laura.

“As we do not know anything about this disease, we are a little gullible and we want to believe our pharmacist, she says.

However, this test, I will not recommend it.

"

"A risk for the patient who will not be detected"

The Haute Autorité de la Santé is formal.

“Very clearly, these tests answer only one question:

Have you developed antibodies against Sars-Cov-2?

And yet, not all patients produce it, even if they have been infected, ”slices President Dominique Le Guludec.

In short, they make it possible to know if I have already caught the virus since the start of the epidemic, even without having had any symptoms.

Be careful, if this is the case, it does not mean that we are definitely immune.

"But in any case, these rapid tests can not tell if I am currently sick or contagious", continues the president.

Today, it is the nasal swab, the reference examination, called PCR, which gives this answer.

Same speech from the Directorate General of Health which concludes: “Serological Trods cannot therefore in any way replace PCR, carried out in the laboratory.

"

The Ministry of Health goes further and "encourages users to report these practices to the Council of the Order", we are told in writing.

“In addition to prosecution, they constitute breaches of ethics and more broadly, disciplinary: they can be qualified as a fault engaging the civil liability of the professionals concerned.

"

Contacted, the president of the Order of pharmacists affirms it: “To say that the test makes it possible to know if one has the virus or not is misleading, recognizes Carine Wolf-Thal.

It is to take a risk to a patient who will not be detected.

The Trod only gives diagnostic guidance, their value is limited.

»In the event of reports of questionable practices, the president will remind pharmacists of the framework for their use.

Even if, she explains, the current situation is "extremely complicated", marked by difficult access to labs, high demand and pressure from patients.

"Sometimes they beg us to take the test, we can explain to them that it will not be used to say whether they are positive or not, they want it, it reassures them!"

"

Source: leparis

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