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Rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2
Michael Liu, Rahul K. Arora and Mel Krajden
CMAJ March 29, 2021 193 (13) E447; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.202827
Michael Liu
Harvard Medical School (Liu), Boston, Mass.; Unity Health Toronto (Liu), St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ont.; Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Arora), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Community Health Sciences (Arora), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta.; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Krajden), University of British Columbia; BC Centre for Disease Control (Krajden), Vancouver, BC.
ABRahul K. Arora
Harvard Medical School (Liu), Boston, Mass.; Unity Health Toronto (Liu), St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ont.; Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Arora), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Community Health Sciences (Arora), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta.; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Krajden), University of British Columbia; BC Centre for Disease Control (Krajden), Vancouver, BC.
BHScMel Krajden
Harvard Medical School (Liu), Boston, Mass.; Unity Health Toronto (Liu), St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ont.; Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Arora), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Department of Community Health Sciences (Arora), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta.; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Krajden), University of British Columbia; BC Centre for Disease Control (Krajden), Vancouver, BC.
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Rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2
Michael Liu, Rahul K. Arora, Mel Krajden
CMAJ Mar 2021, 193 (13) E447; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.202827
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- Article
- Rapid antigen tests (RATs) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are point-of-care immunoassays that are moderately sensitive and highly specific
- RATs adequately identify people who are infectious
- RATs are useful in screening programs to break chains of transmission
- Pretest probability should guide interpretation of RAT results
- Training test administrators in sample collection and testing procedures improves test accuracy and safety
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