Several patients have asked me if lateral flow devices (LFDs) will detect Omicron infections. These are the rapid tests that people can use to check for Covid-19 infection while they are asymptotic. NHS staff are required to use these tests regularly if they are in patient-facing roles.<\/p>\n
Short Answer: Yes. The UK HSA has confirmed this in an initial laboratory evaluation of the LFDs currently used in the UK. The data from the initial samples in the HSA study show a similar sensitivity for the detection of Covid-19 from Omicron to that seen for previous strains of SARS-CoV-2 including Delta, which has been the predominant strain in the UK from May to December 2021.<\/p>\n
All LFDs approved for use within the UK specifically detect the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2 using a combination of 2 or more different antibodies, each targeting a distinct epitope. Full details of the study are available on pages 14-16 of the HAS study. Finally, remember that LFDs are not 100% sensitive and won\u2019t detect some infections. Full details of the study are available on pages 14-16 of the HSA report.<\/p>\n
If you have symptoms of a possible Covid-19 infection, get a PCR test. Irrespective of your test result, continue to practise good infection control measures such as wearing a face mask and avoiding higher risk venues such s very crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Several patients have asked me if lateral flow devices (LFDs) will detect Omicron infections. These are the rapid tests that people can use to check for Covid-19 infection while they are asymptotic. NHS staff are required to use these tests regularly if they are in patient-facing roles. Short Answer: Yes. The UK HSA has confirmed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[296231,404],"tags":[274465],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-health","tag-covid-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":770,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/medical-centre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}