To rapid test or not to rapid test for COVID-19
As the pandemic has struck the predicted second wave, public struggles persist with lifestyle restrictions, but our knowledge to identify and fight the virus has significantly progressed. With tests developed, distributed and administered satisfactorily for most symptomatic sufferers (PCR), and the vaccine roll out for the most vulnerable, science and medicine turn to consider the silent carriers of SARS-CoV-2…the asymptomatic vectors. The case for rapid antigen testing using Lateral Flow At present testing...
SARS-CoV-2 – The value of Ct values
What are Ct values? In quantitative PCR (qPCR) and reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), the cycle threshold (Ct) value is the number of nucleic acid amplification cycles required for the signal generated by the amplification of a specific target DNA to cross a set threshold. Labelling the DNA primers with a fluorescent tag is what makes this PCR ‘real time’; as the target genetic material increases with each amplification cycle...
