Coronavirus is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus with an envelope of about 80 to 120 nm in diameter. Its genetic material is the largest of all RNA viruses and is an important pathogen of many domestic animals, pets and human diseases. The gold standard test for diagnosing the COVID-19 was RT-PCR, but it was time consuming, expensive and laboratory expertise is needed for diagnosing the condition. There are alternate methods to diagnose the COVID-19 like antigen and antibody tests. Antigen test will detect the active phase of infection and antibody tests will detect the past infection. So, to detect COVID-19 in active phase of infection antigen are better alternative for RT-PCR, as it is rapid and cost effective.

References

Citation

Citation: M Lakshmi Narayana. “Antigen Testing for COVID-19". Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 2.12 (2020): 01-02.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 M Lakshmi Narayana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.