France had on Thursday 4,771 new positive cases for Covid-19 in 24 hours, the highest increase recorded in one day since the deconfinement on May 11. And to stem this epidemic, screening is one of the most important means in particular to have a vision of the circulation of the virus. A few drops of saliva every week, in exchange for an almost normal life. This is the promise made by the University of Liège, in Belgium, to its students.
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5,000 tests per day
From the start of the school year, regular and massive screening tests for the coronavirus will be organized within the university community. This is a saliva test, developed by the University of Liège. The student can do it alone in his room and the sample will then be analyzed in the laboratory.
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The university plans to screen its community every week. Students, professors and other members of staff combined, this represents 30,000 people, or 5,000 tests per working day. The results are much faster than with PCR tests. Within hours, a person can find out if they are a carrier of the coronavirus.
"The more tests we have, the more we can reduce the amount of virus circulating"
Is it a good idea to apply in France? In our country, these saliva tests, not yet reliable enough, are still not available. According to Anne-Claude Crémieux, infectious disease doctor at Saint-Louis hospital, in Paris, and member of the National Academy of Medicine, "the interest of saliva tests is twofold: the samples are easier to take, less unpleasant for the person to whom they are made "and they are also faster since the" rendering of results is done in two hours ".
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"We know that they are less sensitive than nasopharyngeal tests," notes the infectious disease specialist. But "in today's strategy which aims to try to curb contamination as much as possible, they can have an impact on the control of the epidemic which largely compensates for this lower sensitivity," she said. "The more tests we have, the more we will be able to detect infected people, the more we will be able to isolate them and reduce the quantity of virus which circulates therefore the propagation", summarizes Anne-Claude Crémieux.