Role of laboratories in covid-19

The main objective of the clinical laboratory is to contribute to the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of the evolution of a disease through the analysis of biological samples. On the other hand, the clinical impact is a term that represents the benefit of a test and its contribution to the medical decision process; it is multifaceted and encompasses how the test is used and affects clinical outcomes.

If you are part of the health staff and you are immersed in the field of diagnosis, you should bear in mind three fundamental principles to reduce the statistics of erroneous diagnoses:

• Listen more and better to patients.
• Cooperate more among colleagues.
• Promote training and research in basic clinical practice.

Covid-19 Test Centres In Abuja aimed to diagnose the covid in the patients.

Covid-19: Vaccines are effective and useful in reducing viral transmission

Currently, validated commercial diagnostic tests analyze nasal, oropharyngeal, or nasopharyngeal samples. Molecular salivary tests have been validated for specific screening activities.

Molecular swabs based on the real-time RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction) method are considered the gold standard for diagnosing COVID-19 through the amplification of viral genes. They allow for detecting the presence of viral genome in symptomatic subjects, even with low viral load.

Antigenic swabs, unlike molecular swabs, look for antigens typically found on the surface of the virus but not the genome. They are also called "rapid" because, unlike molecular, the analysis takes up to 48 hours. In this case, the result is obtained after 30 minutes or less. 24 hours medical testing can be performed in diagnostic centers, pharmacies, or by the general practitioner as there are very sophisticated but also very simple.

Covid-19 Test Centres In Lagos are useful for asymptomatic subjects in screening campaigns. For both swabs, the sampling is done in the tract where SARS-Cov-2 occurs in the initial stages: nose, mouth, and pharynx. For this, nasal / oral-pharyngeal swabs are made.

Screening and diagnostics

In the case of screening or monitoring and control activities on an asymptomatic population, for which the goal is not to confirm a diagnosis but to monitor and trace the circulation of the virus, antigenic agents can therefore be more effective than molecular swabs. Because they are quick and in case of negative results, if the more advanced tests are used, they should not be repeated. The use of diagnostic tests outside of these indications is configured as an "inappropriate" recourse to virological diagnostics, resulting in improper resource management.

The first antigen tests did not give much hope because they depended on the biological matrix used, were affected by the prevalence of the infection in the population, and could be reserved only for contact tracing.

On the contrary, the latest generation antigenic tests have better performances and can also be used for diagnostic activities, especially those of more recent introduction that seem to show similar results to the molecular ones. "These are the tests that Medical Lab Test Centre Nigeria believes could be used for mass screening, and today they can be done in a pharmacy or general practitioner.