France: first screening campaign for Covid-19 with antigenic tests
Audio 01:15
The screening campaign with saliva test, here in a traveling bus in Saint-Étienne, February 22, 2021. AFP - JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
This is a first in France: a screening campaign carried out with antigenic saliva tests.
It's been happening since the start of the week in Saint-Étienne, in the south-east of the country.
The dozen centers will remain open for 48 hours, but it already appears that this type of test makes the campaign more attractive.
It must be said that it is enough to spit in a tube and the results fall 15 minutes later.
It is much less unpleasant than the nasopharyngeal test and faster than the PCR test.
But the technique is still in the experimental stage.
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With our special correspondent in Saint-Étienne,
Marie Casadebaig
Twice a day, the samples tested in the screening centers arrive here, in this laboratory at the CHU North of Saint Etienne.
“
There you go.
So we get a kind of little bag in which we have, you see, a sample of saliva,
”explains Professor Prozzetto, who is leading research on the
antigenic saliva test
.
Fast, painless and inexpensive, it could revolutionize screening campaigns.
Is it still necessary to know its real effectiveness?
“
You see, this is all the tubes that are prepared to pre-process the samples.
It is a solution which has the property of making it spit out all the genetic material
”, continues the professor.
Thus treated, the samples are sent to three large analysis centers for another series of tests, this time RT-PCR.
It is the reference technique for the detection of Covid-19, but it is expensive and gives results within 24 hours.
The objective is therefore to compare the conclusions of the two types of tests and to answer this question: "
Could we consider a slightly degraded solution with an antigenic test which is doubtless less sensitive but more rapid making it possible to detect at least the very strong positives and isolate the patients most at risk
?
"
The first data from the work of Professor Prozzetto and his team should be known within a fortnight.
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See also: Saliva tests, a new weapon against Covid-19
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