Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the nostril was, for the most part, an unexplored cavern. Aside from our fingers, nothing used to go up there.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and now our noses get assaulted all a time, sometimes on a daily basis for the unlucky ones.
While the level of discomfort can vary depending on how happy the tester is in life, it’s always an unpleasant procedure, with some describing the feeling like “being stabbed in the brain”.
Ever since nasal swab tests became the norm for detecting the coronavirus, we’ve been clamouring for something less invasive, something which didn’t involve getting our noses getting defiled.
Well, we’ll soon get what we want.
Saliva COVID-19 Test Kits That are As Accurate as PCR Tests Will Be in S’pore in 3 Months
A research collaboration between four educational and healthcare institutions has led to the development of a saliva antigen rapid test (ART) that is just as accurate as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
The self-administered test – boasting an accuracy rate of 97% – also delivers results much quicker than a PCR test, taking only 15 minutes to yield a result.
The time taken to get a result—known as the Parallel Amplified Saliva rapid POint-of-caRe Test (Pasport)—is similar to the shortest time needed for ARTs.
As for accuracy, ARTs have an accuracy rate of around 80%, while PCR tests—often called the gold standard—have an accuracy rate of 99%.
The test was developed in a collaboration between Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore General Hospital (SGH), National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Dr Danny Tng, the lead inventor behind the test, said that Duke-NUS and SingHealth have already entered into a licensing agreement with Digital Life Line, a medical supply company, for the test’s commercialisation.
It is believed that the test could be available in the market sometime within the next three to six months. It has yet to get the approval of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).
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Test Can Be Done Even After Eating
One of the reasons that current saliva tests available haven’t been used on a large scale is that the accuracy decreases after one eats or drinks.
Eating and drinking seem to drastically reduce the concentration of viral particles in saliva.
But with this new saliva test, low viral loads will still be detected, as it uses more nanoparticles than other tests.
Recently, another saliva test was approved for use as a pre-departure test for those leaving Singapore for certain countries.
Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, people all over the world will be spitting into plastic funnels instead of getting swabs violently shoved up their noses to check if they have COVID-19.
After what we’ve been through, it’s the least we deserve.
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Featured Image: duke-nus.edu.sg