Thiruvananthapuram: With seven districts in the state being identified as hotspots and Kasaragod recording high number of cases, the state is set to have a strategy for ascertaining community spread. Rapid test kits will be used mostly to identify the transmission dynamics of Covid-19 and pattern of spread within the community. The team entrusted with the preparation of strategy has been considering different aspects before finalizing the protocol for determining community spread.
The advisory on rapid diagnostic kits by the state government has mentioned that antibody tests need not be used as a primary diagnostic test. The main use would be to study the incidence and prevalence of disease and local outbreak by well-designed studies and by setting up surveillance centres. The advisory has cited that antibody based rapid tests may be used sparingly and to test contacts for epidemiological purpose.
The focus of strategy will be on identifying prevalence of antibodies among persons in the community, but there are concerns. “Rapid test doesn't give information about current infection, it only tells us about the presence of antibodies that a person had an infection at some point in the past. It gives an idea about an infection that might have happened in the last 2-3 weeks,” an official associated with the preparation of strategy said.
The government has ordered for 2 lakh test kits. It is assessed that 20,000-25,000 kits will be used for sentinel surveillance in which data are collected from a restricted network of reporting areas/hospitals to gauge the trends in a larger community. The rest of the kits are being planned for health workers, policemen and those who have interacted closely with infected persons.
The use of an antibody test depends a lot on type of infection and how soon antibodies are formed.
In case of dengue infection, by 4th day antibodies are formed which can be detected using antibody test. The issue in Covid is that it will take at least up to seven days to form antibodies after developing symptoms. `` Practically this cannot be used as confirmatory test for diagnosis since already seven days may have lapsed during which the person would have spread infection,'' the official said.
The team is considering the fact that in antibody tests, only the test is rapid and the information it gives is about a past infection, sometimes one week or two weeks ago. The strategy will revolve around use of antibody based rapid test kits to get an idea of pattern of spread in a community. High risk communities, people who have completed quarantine, people who are health workers could be subjected to community screening using antibody test kits to ascertain community spread.
The advisory on rapid diagnostic kits by the state government has mentioned that antibody tests need not be used as a primary diagnostic test. The main use would be to study the incidence and prevalence of disease and local outbreak by well-designed studies and by setting up surveillance centres. The advisory has cited that antibody based rapid tests may be used sparingly and to test contacts for epidemiological purpose.
The focus of strategy will be on identifying prevalence of antibodies among persons in the community, but there are concerns. “Rapid test doesn't give information about current infection, it only tells us about the presence of antibodies that a person had an infection at some point in the past. It gives an idea about an infection that might have happened in the last 2-3 weeks,” an official associated with the preparation of strategy said.
The government has ordered for 2 lakh test kits. It is assessed that 20,000-25,000 kits will be used for sentinel surveillance in which data are collected from a restricted network of reporting areas/hospitals to gauge the trends in a larger community. The rest of the kits are being planned for health workers, policemen and those who have interacted closely with infected persons.
The use of an antibody test depends a lot on type of infection and how soon antibodies are formed.
In case of dengue infection, by 4th day antibodies are formed which can be detected using antibody test. The issue in Covid is that it will take at least up to seven days to form antibodies after developing symptoms. `` Practically this cannot be used as confirmatory test for diagnosis since already seven days may have lapsed during which the person would have spread infection,'' the official said.
The team is considering the fact that in antibody tests, only the test is rapid and the information it gives is about a past infection, sometimes one week or two weeks ago. The strategy will revolve around use of antibody based rapid test kits to get an idea of pattern of spread in a community. High risk communities, people who have completed quarantine, people who are health workers could be subjected to community screening using antibody test kits to ascertain community spread.
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