Screening and confirmation tests for SARS-CoV-2: benefits and drawbacks

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 is a pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection that emerged in late 2019 and has activated an ongoing international public health emergency. SARS-CoV-2 was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and rapidly spread to other cities and countries. Currently, SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests have relied heavily on detecting viral genes, antigens, and human antibodies. Hence, this review discusses and analyses the existing screening and confirmation tests for SARS-CoV-2, including the real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

MAIN BODY: The illustrations of each testing were presented to provide the readers with an understanding of the scientific principles behind the testing methods. The comparison was made by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each testing. ELISA is ideal for performing the maximum population screening to determine immunological capacity, although its inability to provide reliable results on the status of the infection. Recently, LFIA has been approved as a quicker way of determining whether a patient is infected at the analysis time without using particular instruments and non-laboratory settings. RT-PCR is the gold-standard approach in terms of sensitivity and specificity.

CONCLUSION: However, the combination of LFIA or ELISA with RT-PCR is also proposed in this review to obtain an adequate level of sensitivity and specificity.