The High Authority for Health (HAS) on Friday September 25 gave the green light to a third type of faster tests, antigenic tests, to diagnose Covid-19 in people who have symptoms, with the hope of "
relieving congestion
" Laboratories.
The HAS had already approved, a week ago, saliva tests for people with symptoms.
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In addition, the main test, known as RT-PCR, can now be performed after a sample taken from the throat, and no longer just from the nose, for some people without symptoms.
With these various announcements, which pave the way for reimbursement and the use of these new techniques, France is expanding its arsenal of diagnostic tests, while laboratories are congested and delays too long.
Like the current RT-PCR test, the antigenic tests are carried out from samples in the nostrils, by swab.
But unlike RT-PCRs, antigenic tests do not require laboratory analysis, because their mechanism is simpler: the former detect the genetic material of the coronavirus, while the latter locate virus proteins.
The new test pattern will emerge as follows: RT-PCR tests with a sample from the nose will remain the reference technique, but may be replaced by antigenic tests, which are faster, in people with symptoms.
In addition, people for whom the sample cannot be taken from the nose (children, very old people or people suffering from mental disorders) will have alternatives: if they have symptoms, they can do a saliva test, and if they do not. have no symptoms, they can do an RT-PCR test with a sample from the throat (oropharyngeal), which is less unpleasant.
Results "
a little less good
"
"
There is no miracle solution, but each time an improvement which lowers the pressure
" on the national testing system, commented Prof. Dominique Le Guludec, president of the College of the High Authority for Health (HAS) , at an online press conference.
Antigen tests are "
quick
" and "
give a result in 20 to 30 minutes,
" she explained.
"
A case detected sooner will allow action to be taken to reduce the risk of infecting other people
."
Read also: Explosion of waiting times for Covid-19 test results
The results of antigenic tests are "
a little worse
" than those of RT-PCR, but this is "
compensated by their speed and by the fact that they can be deployed outside laboratories: in pharmacies or in surgeries. general medicine
, ”she stressed.
The antigenic tests "
will make it possible to relieve, unclog the laboratories which are today completely saturated by the activity of RT-PCR
", estimated Dr. Cédric Carbonneil, head of the service of evaluation of professional acts of the HAS.
Conversely, saliva tests must be analyzed in the laboratory.
But their use will make it possible to go faster at the sampling stage, since it suffices to "
spit into a tube
", argued Professor Le Guludec.
Finally, the HAS will issue soon, perhaps “
next week
”, an opinion on antigenic tests in people who have no symptoms.