Abstract

CASTRO, Gonzalo Manuel et al. Molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Argentina: Evaluation of alternative diagnostic tools for the decentralization of the diagnosis. Rev. argent. microbiol. [online]. 2023, vol.55, n.3, pp.3-3. ISSN 0325-7541.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ram.2023.01.004.

The rocketing number of COVID-19 cases highlighted the critical role that diagnostic tests play in medical and public health decision-making to contain and mitigate the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This study reports the evaluation and implementation of different tests for the molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 in the central region of Argentina. We evaluated 3 real time RT-PCR kits (GeneFinder COVID-19 Plus RealAmp Kit, DisCoVery SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Detection Kit and WGene SARS-CoV-2 RT Detection), 2 nucleic acid extraction methods [MagaBio plus Virus DNA/RNA Purification Kit II (BioFlux), 35-min vs. 9-min, a pre-analytical reagent (FlashPrep®) and 2 isothermal amplification tests (Neokit Plus and ELA CHEMSTRIP®). The order according to the best performance of the 3 real-time RT-PCR kits evaluated was: DisCoVery > GeneFinderTM> WGene. The 2 RNA extraction methods showed similar good results: MagaBio plus Virus RNA Purification Kit II (BioFlux) 9-min was selected due to its faster performance. FlashPrep® reagent showed excellent results to perform direct RNA detection. Isothermal amplification assays showed acceptable sensitivity and specificity values (>80%), except in samples with Ct> 30. Our data show optimal real time RT-PCR kits and alternative molecular methods for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic. These alternative assays proved to be aceptable.

Keywords : SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Diagnosis; Molecular detection; Real time RT-PCR; Isothermal amplification.

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