The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19

The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19

Many public officials are calling for increased testing for the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and some governments have taken extraordinary measures to increase the availability of testing. However, little has been published about the sensitivity and specificity of the reverse transcrip...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tony Zitek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eScholarship Publishing, University of California 2020-04-01
Series:Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gh0z5t0
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spelling doaj-4e908dac297b4d68b62669ec1ab1a03f2020-11-25T02:40:07ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaWestern Journal of Emergency Medicine1936-90182020-04-0121310.5811/westjem.2020.4.47370wjem-21-470The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19Tony ZitekMany public officials are calling for increased testing for the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and some governments have taken extraordinary measures to increase the availability of testing. However, little has been published about the sensitivity and specificity of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) nasopharyngeal swabs that are commonly used for testing. This narrative review evaluates the literature regarding the accuracy of these tests, and makes recommendations based on this literature. In brief, a negative RT-PCR nasopharyngeal swab test is insufficient to rule out COVID-19. Thus, over-reliance on the results of the test may be dangerous, and the push for widespread testing may be overstated.https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gh0z5t0
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Tony Zitek
spellingShingle Tony Zitek
The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19
Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
author_facet Tony Zitek
author_sort Tony Zitek
title The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19
title_short The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19
title_full The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19
title_fullStr The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed The Appropriate Use of Testing for COVID-19
title_sort appropriate use of testing for covid-19
publisher eScholarship Publishing, University of California
series Western Journal of Emergency Medicine
issn 1936-9018
publishDate 2020-04-01
description Many public officials are calling for increased testing for the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and some governments have taken extraordinary measures to increase the availability of testing. However, little has been published about the sensitivity and specificity of the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) nasopharyngeal swabs that are commonly used for testing. This narrative review evaluates the literature regarding the accuracy of these tests, and makes recommendations based on this literature. In brief, a negative RT-PCR nasopharyngeal swab test is insufficient to rule out COVID-19. Thus, over-reliance on the results of the test may be dangerous, and the push for widespread testing may be overstated.
url https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gh0z5t0
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