Doctor warns vs rapid tests use
Rapid antibody tests cannot be used to identify whether a person is infected with COVID-19 or not
An epidemiologist has expressed concern anew over the extensive use of the rapid antibody test kits by local government units and business establishments.
Dr. Antonio Dans, a member of the Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine, noted that rapid antibody tests cannot be used to identify whether a person is infected with COVID-19 or not.
It only detects the presence of antibodies which can only be developed by a COVID-19 positive patient several days after getting infected, he said.
In a radio interview Wednesday, Dans stressed that the acceptable COVID-19 test must find the virus itself, not only the antibodies, which the RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test is capable of.
RT-PCR test is tagged as the gold standard method for detecting COVID-19 by the Department of Health (DoH).
“Rapid antibody tests can be used for research, survey... not to tell if the person has COVID or not. Swab test (RT-PCR test) should be used there,” said Dans, who is also the spokesman of Healthcare Professions Alliance Against COVID-19.
He said the rapid antibody test provides 50 percent false negative — which may give people a false sense of security.
“If there are 100 COVID-19 positive patients, the test can tell some 50 of them that they are negative. While thinking that they are not infected, they will go back to the communities, to their workplaces, which may have caused the pandemic,” Dans explained.
Malacañang has repeatedly defended the use of rapid antibody tests, saying that this has a purpose in the country’s pandemic response strategy.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the test serves as “initial screening” for the virus.
Meanwhile, Dans said the rapid antibody test kits bought beforehand will not be wasted because they can be used as devices in the vaccine development.
“We are making a study now... to know how long the antibodies can remain in the blood,” he shared.
Dans said he and other health workers have already talked to DoH secretary Francisco Duque III and testing czar Vince Dizon regarding strategies against the COVID-19 crisis.