Westlab’s rapid lateral flow antigen test kit offers great benefit to the user as a fast, efficient, effective and convenient virus testing kit. The simplicity with which the kit is used and its characteristics as a cost-effective investment make it an important option for health systems in their part in detecting the virus.
This is a massive step in being able to detect the virus early on, so that screening can eliminate advanced transmissibility when people are most contagious.
Key Benefits:
- Simple and fast to use – results in 15 minutes
- High specificity – 99.25%
- Extensive clinical validation
- Proven and tested
- On-the-spot results
- Minimal training for operation
What it consists of
- Sample collection tube and dropper cap
- Nasal swab
- Buffer solution
- Tube rack
- Test Cassette
How it works
Antigen test kits use a chromatographic immunoassay to detect any viral antigens present in a swab. Using a test strip coated in gold conjugate, antigens are trapped by a small coating of antibodies on the strip, becoming as a visible line indicating a positive result.
The process for an antigen test is very simple, yet very effective. Used for the diagnosis of SARS CoV-2 in a symptomatic patient, the tests use nasopharyngeal, throat or nasal samples.
Once the sample is taken, it is extracted from the swab by mixing it with a small amount of the buffer solution in the collection tube. The buffer solution provided with the test kit works by attracting the mucus, fluids and cells from the swab and diluting them so they can provide a result through the test card.
Once the sample has been placed in the tube, mixed gently and left for around 30 seconds, the extraction process will be complete, and the sample will be ready to apply.
2-3 drops of the sample are applied to the test card on the sample marking. The test card works by detecting the antigens in the sample and showing certain colours in the test location as a chemical reaction. Results will show up in around 15 minutes. This is very simple and easy to interpret, meaning test results will be accurate and generally reliable.
Accuracy
The accuracy of the rapid lateral flow antigen test is determined by two key metrics – sensitivity and specificity. While sensitivity refers to the number of true positives a test returns, specificity refers to the number of true negatives a test returns. The outstanding specificity of the test (99.25%) means that false positives are eliminated, and managerial processes can be streamlined. The high sensitivity of the Westlab antigen test (98.6%) means that most true positives will be identified. While the fast test is not to the same standards as PCR testing in terms of reliability or accuracy, rapid testing will show results if a person is contagious with the disease, meaning it is particularly accurate for asymptomatic people in the early stages of infection. On the other hand, PCR testing is very expensive, lengthy and complicated, yet will return accurate results for people with the virus still in the system.
