A UK study found a new Covid-19 rapid test with results within 90 minutes

A UK study found that the new small box Covid-19 high-speed test device, which yields results within 90 minutes, is highly accurate, with few false negatives and few false positives.

Lab-in-Cartridge tests can be run on cartridges smaller than mobile phones and do not require a laboratory.

The study, led by scientists at Imperial College London and published this week in The Lancet Microbe, includes over 94% of high-speed tests on 386 United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) staff and patients. Sensitivity and specificity turned out to be 100%.

“These results suggest that tests that can be performed at the patient’s bedside without the need to work with sample materials are as accurate as standard laboratory tests,” a study from the Infectious Diseases Department said. Said Professor Graham Cook, the lead author of. Imperial College London.

“Many tests involve a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but this test manages to achieve both. Developing an effective bedside test in less than three months is an engineer, It was an amazing collaboration between a team of clinicians and virologists, “he said.

The test is currently being successfully used in eight hospitals in London and will be rolled out at the UK national level as data continues to be collected from test devices for ongoing evaluation.

Imperial College London said the British government recently ordered 5.8 million test kits.

To perform the test, a child-sized nasal swab from the patient is inserted into the device, then looking for traces of genetic material belonging to SARS-CoV-2 or the novel coronavirus that causes the infection.

Results are available within 90 minutes compared to the traditional Covid-19 test, which provides results in 24 hours.

According to the research team, the test is currently being developed to evaluate Flu-A, Flu-B, RSV, and Covid-19 simultaneously.

Created by Imperial London-based startup DnaNudge, the device has 280 NHS staff suspected of Covid-19, 15 suspected Covid-19 accident and emergency (A & E) patients, and 91. Used for inpatients. Covid-19 Of those who did not show symptoms.

18% of patients were found to be Covid-19 positive during the peak pandemic during the study.

The results show that the Covid Nudge test was positive for 67 samples, while a series of NHS standard laboratory machines representing a sensitivity value of 94% gave 71 positive results.

“The DnaNudge test was developed as a lab-free, on-the-spot consumer service that can be delivered on a large scale, so we are convinced that it has tremendous potential for large-scale mass testing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Professor Regna Chris Toumazou, CEO and co-founder of Dna Nudge, and founder of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London.

“This platform can be used in non-medical facilities such as long-term care facilities, schools, transportation hubs and offices, and tested in primary care and community settings that may help revive art in theaters and venues. Optimal, but further investigation into its actual effectiveness in non-clinical environments will be needed before widespread deployment. “

A research team, including scientists and clinicians from Imperial and many NHS hospital trusts, evaluated sensitivity and specificity.

Sensitivity is a measure of how good the test gives for people with the disease and how likely it is that the test will produce false negative results.

Specificity, on the other hand, is a measure of the ability of a test to give negative results to a non-diseased person and a measure of the likelihood of false positive results.

“As an organization, we focus on using research and innovation to drive continuous improvement in care. By returning accurate results to clinicians and their patients as soon as possible, we provide a clinical pathway. It makes a big difference in how we manage it safely. We are very much looking forward to expanding it more widely. ”Innovation at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

The device has been approved by the UK Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority and is CE marked for additional use in non-clinical locations. The team will explain that each device is Wi-Fi enabled so that the test results can be safely sent to the hospital’s recording system.

Tests of this study were conducted at three NHS sites from April 10th to May 12th. St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London. Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford.

It was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Imperial Center for Biomedical Research.