All-in-one test could detect Covid, flu and lung viruses
Firm that produces PCR kits for Britain in talks with the Government to roll outnew winter model
THE UK is in talks to roll out an all-inone test from the US that can detect Covid, flu and the common respiratory virus RSV to help alleviate winter pressures facing the NHS.
It would work in the same way as a Covid PCR test, with nasal swabs being sent off to a lab for analysis.
But instead of only looking for signs of coronavirus, the winter panel would simultaneously look for a variety of viruses known to be in circulation.
Thermo Fisher, an American company based in Massachusetts, which specialises in the manufacture and supply of scientific tools, tests and materials, has already made the kit and had it approved.
The firm produces the most popular Covid-19 PCR test in the UK and the winter model was created as an expansion of this.
“We realised we could develop more technology into the same assay,” said Mark Stevenson, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Thermo Fisher.
“With the UK Government we’ve been discussing not only having Covid but having flu in there. We’ve been talking about a winter panel with RSV.”
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) refused to comment on the details of “procurement negotiations”.
Thermo Fisher’s Covid test, TaqPath, is used for around 60 per cent of swabs in the UK and works by recognising three genes found on the original Wuhan strain of the virus. “It looks like a three traffic-light system,” said Mr Stevenson.
“You get three green lights when all genes are detected. The software then reports a zero, or red light, if nothing was detected.
“It’s very simple. If you get two out of three, you know you have Covid, that’s how the diagnostic test is set up. If you have all three, that’s also good.”
However, one specific mutation, called 69-70del, found on the alpha and omicron variants, causes one of these probes to fail, so while the test still flags up a positive case, it only shows two of the three markers.
Mr Stevenson said that when the alpha variant first emerged in Kent in late 2020 and this issue was first spotted, there was concern.
‘You get three green lights when all genes are detected. The software reports a red light if nothing is detected’
“[But] once we got the sequence of the alpha strain and we compared it to our assay design, we knew why that probe was failing,” said Mr Stevenson.
“There was concern about that but once we confirmed the other two probes would still work, it then became very useful.”
As a result, the TaqPath test has been used as an early indicator system for new variants and is being deployed in surge testing to speed up identification of new variants as it can take up to two weeks to fully sequence a sample.
All tests on suspected omicron cases are TaqPath and any that show the S gene drop out are provisionally thought to be omicron, and undergo rapid testing to confirm this is the case.