More and more tests for the new coronavirus on the market, by the end of July there were already more than 350 in the world, there are 3 main types: PCR tests, serological tests (ELISA) and antigenic tests.
To check if a user is recently inflamed and can also infect others, a control based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method is regularly used. Alternatively, there are also ISOterma DNA amplification controls, which closely resemble PCR controls.
In either case, saliva is removed from the patient’s throat with a cotton swab. The deeper pulmonary sputum is also suitable for detection. Then, some of the genetic curtains, for example, a gene, multiply from the pattern in many stages, and finally, a biochemical approach called agar gel electrophoresis is used to determine whether the pattern contains the expected viral genetic pattern.
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Samples are usually taken from the throat or nose.
If a genetic cloth is found, the patient is infectious; However, if the genetic cloth is not found, it does not necessarily mean that the scanned user is not inflamed after all: the viruses would probably not be in the pattern but are provided elsewhere in the body.
Possibly, this would also explain why, in individual cases, patients with COVID-19 considered cured tested positive at PCR controls later. Probably in such cases, the viruses were provided all the time but were not discovered in control until patients were declared cured.
In a podcast with German public broadcaster NDR, infectious disease specialist Christian Drosten of Charite Hospital in Berlin spoke of an attempt to catch a goldfish in a tank with a hand net. If you take the net out of the water and there are no fish, that doesn’t mean there are no fish in the aquarium.
Traditional PCR testing is performed in a laboratory; most of the time, it is done through high-speed screening, in which thousands of samples can be analyzed simultaneously. This procedure usually takes several hours to produce results and patients have to wait between a day and a few days to get the results.
PCR Quick Verification is a imaginable solution for this time-consuming process. In this case, verification is not performed in a central laboratory, but can be performed on site with cellular equipment. These devices can produce a result in forty-five minutes. . The problem is that gadgets can’t handle more than 80 checks a day.
These immediate new controls have only been on the market since this summer and are designed to be as simple to use as pregnancy control. Antigen control also comes with taking a saliva sample. This technique detects viruses using the fluorescence immunological dosing (FIA) technique and can do so regularly if a patient is severely inflamed and contagious within 15 minutes.
However, antigen testing is less accurate than a full PCR analysis. However, the main advantages are the quick effects and ability to use it on the site. Some tests require a special device for analysis.
Influenza tests showing paints on the same precept have a sensitivity of more than 50% and a specificity of approximately 99%, which would mean that only one in two carriers of the virus is detected, and one in a hundred tested people would have a false positive result.
However, an increasing number of doctors are in favor of the widespread use of antigenic tests, as they hope that this will eventually mean that other more inflamed people are detected.
They also argue that the sensitivity of the tests increases when patients have a maximum viral load, that is, when they are the maximum contagious and, therefore, when they pose the greatest threat to the community.
In many countries, adding Germany, such quick trials cannot be obtained for free. Since the Infection Protection Act stipulates that all SARS-CoV-2 diseases should be reported, only doctors can perform the tests.
Serological tests, also known as immunoenzyme tests (ELISA), run into antibodies collected by the immune formula against the virus in the blood of those tested, meaning that the framework has already shown an immune reaction to an infection with an ELISA-specific virus, a user will have to give a small blood pattern that is then tested in the lab.
Manufacturers now also offer immediate controls on this principle, but have not yet been performed through a working physician. Simply place a few drops of blood, such as with a diabetes check, in a control cassette and load a buffer solution.
If GIS-coV-2-specific immunoglobulins are provided in the blood, the pattern adjusts the color. A positive result would possibly mean that the user being tested has had a coronavirus infection and now has some immunity to it. But that’s not necessarily the case. Almost all antibody tests “react in a cross reaction,” as Drosten noted in his podcast.
Some brands say this is not the case with their products; however, it is that someone who tested positive would possibly have had another coronavirus infection, a cold, for example, and not a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Read more: Immune System Combat Coronavirus
Positive antibody control would possibly mean that the user being reviewed has a coronavirus infection, but not necessarily
PCR testing is vital to know if patients and their touches are lately infectious and in what form of quarantine will they have to pass: is it enough to impose a two-week stay-in-house order on a touch user, who can still comply?with household members, or does the user really want to be absolutely isolated?
ELISA tests are a vital tool for epidemiologists to estimate the number of others who have had an undetected infection and whether a safe point of collective immunity can eventually be achieved. This can help politicians remove restrictions.
Verification can also check the immunity of others who have been permanently inflamed with COVID-19 or those who have won one of the newly developed vaccines.
Several German university hospitals have introduced large-scale studies in which they use ELISA tests to check randomly chosen components for undetected imaginable infections, in a component to be more informed about the behavior of the virus.
Countries around the world are taking other approaches to testing coronavirus in the existing pandemic, for a number of reasons. Differences in the functionality of fitness care systems, test availability and other laboratory functions have played as vital a role as the risk severity factor from the start.
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Coronavirus tests in South Korea have also become temporarily popular around the world
For example, South Korea, which learned from the joy of the 2002 SARS outbreak, is one of the countries that systematically evaluated a large number of other people at a very early stage, including those with no symptoms and at a time when the number of cases was still low.
In terms of general population, Germany is also one of the countries that performs many tests, but basically tests other people who have shown contact with other people who are inflamed and have symptoms. Other countries, such as the United States, are recently expanding their tests work massively, but the pandemic has also progressed further and the number of cases is very high, contrasting with African countries, where testing is almost non-existent.
Due to new developments, this article has been updated since the original publication.
Read more: Coronavirus: haste to develop quick tests
Our hands everywhere: we use them to greet friends and to stabilize on trains and buses, to hold railings that thousands of people have touched before us, to eat and open doors, and in doing so, we accumulate thousands of germs.
Not all germs are equally dangerous. A healthy user ingests about 1000 salmonella bacteria before getting sick. Salmonella is not unusual in unhealthy eggs. Legionella is much more dangerous: less than a hundred is enough. These bacteria like the temperate and humid climate of hot water tanks and showers. Even perfectly blank air contains thousands of spores of mold and bacteria.
A square inch of toilet seat contains less than 60 germs, meaning that bathrooms are one of the cleanest spaces of all, even some windows contain more germs and fungal spores, this is largely because toilets are cleaned several times a day. week A window can be only twice a year.
Your office is much worse. The average surface domain of a table is more than 18,000 germs consistent with a square inch, 400 times more than toilets. The greatest contamination can be discovered on PC keyboards. There, dirt enters and under the keys. More than 60,000 germs consistent with square inch are not uncommon.
Coins and banknotes replace hands often, and Researchers in New York have known more than 3,000 other genetic germs on dollar bills. Using delicate detection methods, scientists can also, in general, locate lines of cocaine on almost any notable bill, as some have been used to sniff. One more explanation for why sellers never touch cash and food one after the other.
Even a refrigerator called “blank” contains massive amounts of germs. The humid climate and the presence of fats and sugars are the ideal soil for the reproduction of molds of all kinds. Even when the owners diligently blank the refrigerator, the spores will eventually locate their niches – such as interior and rubber insulation of the door.
Hospital staff pay more attention to hand hygiene than others. The spread of resistant bacteria can be fatal. Therefore, in many hospitals there are dispensers of antibacterial solution in addition to soap and water. Before making a stopover on a patient, disinfect your hands !
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the call of this very harmful bacterium. Known antibiotics can’t kill him. Even without nutrition, the germ can last up to seven months, on floors, tables, beds, skin and, of course, on door knobs.
A clinic in Harburg, Germany, has introduced a promising experiment to reduce the number of germs in the door handles. Bacteria don’t like copper. The number of germs has been halved with the arrival of the new handles, but this does not replace hand washing. After all, there are still enough germs.
Should we avoid reaching out now? In hospitals, this would possibly be a good idea, but under general circumstances, this might seem strange. It’s more productive to use an intelligent dose of common sense and hygiene: wash your hands regularly, leave your keyboard and mouse blank frequently. Do not touch food immediately after paying for it and leave your refrigerator blank from time to time.
Author: Fabian Schmidt