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Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron on rapid antigen testing developed for early pandemic SARS-CoV-2 variants
Swiss Medical Weekly ; 152:31S, 2022.
Article in English | EMBASE | ID: covidwho-2040896
ABSTRACT

Background:

Rapid antigen tests (RATs) are widely used for pointof- care or self-testing to identify SARS-CoV-2 (SCoV2)-positive cases.

Aim:

To assess the performance of RATs with currently circulating Omicron variants that may impair detection.

Methods:

We prospectively evaluated the Roche-SARS-CoV-2- Antigen and Acon-FlowFlex-SARS-CoV-2-Antigen in 150 consecutively collected nasopharyngeal patient swabs (50 SCoV2 RNA undetectable;100 SCoV2 Omicron BA.1). Omicron BA.1 results were compared to 92 Ct-matched early pandemic SCoV2 variants (B.1.160 and B.1.177), to 100 Omicron BA.2 positive and to 100 Omicron BA.5 positive samples.

Results:

For Omicron BA.1, Roche-SARS-CoV-2-Antigen detected 87% of samples having Ct-values <29 reflecting 3.6% lower rates compared to B.1.160 and B.1.177. Acon-FlowFlex-SARS-CoV-2- Antigen was less affected and detected 90% of Omicron BA.1 with Ct-values <29. Omicron BA.2 and BA.5 detection rates were significantly reduced by 20% and 10%, respectively, for the Roche-SARSCoV- 2-Antigen in samples with Ct-values <29, but remained similar for Acon-FlowFlex-SARS-CoV-2-Antigen. RATs need to be continuously evaluated as new SCoV2-variants emerge.

Conclusion:

This study provides evidence that variation within the nucleocapsid protein as seen in recently emerged and now globally spreading Omicron BA.2 and Omicron BA.5 variants significantly impairs detection rates of widely used antigen tests. Consequently, antigen tests need to be re-evaluated when new pandemic SCoV2 variants emerge and start to predominate globally.
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Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Topics: Variants Language: English Journal: Swiss Medical Weekly Year: 2022 Document Type: Article

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Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Topics: Variants Language: English Journal: Swiss Medical Weekly Year: 2022 Document Type: Article