The difference between nucleic acid detection and antigen detection: Can a cold affect nucleic acid detection?

1 difference between nucleic acid detection and antigen detection nucleic acid detection mainly refers to PCR fluorescence detection, which detects DNA and RNA inside the virus. Relatively speaking, nucleic acid detection will be more sensitive, but it needs to be carried out in the laboratory and takes a long time.

Antigen detection is mainly to detect the shell of virus surface, and to detect the corresponding antigen through the antibody coated with test paper. Although the detection method is simple and can be operated by itself, the sensitivity of detection is not very high, and improper operation method is easy to be misdiagnosed.

Does cold affect nucleic acid detection? Usually not.

In nucleic acid detection, only a small number of virus samples are needed, and the number of nucleic acids is increased by PCR amplification. Therefore, nucleic acid detection is specific, and the common cold will not affect the results of nucleic acid detection, so don't worry too much.

However, since a cold is also one of the symptoms of infection in COVID-19, if you have symptoms of a cold and have recently been to a medium or high-risk area, you need to conduct nucleic acid testing in time to eliminate the risk of infection.

Will there be false positive in antigen test? It could happen.

Antigen detection is mainly to detect the shell of virus surface, and its sensitivity is relatively poor. If there is a protein component similar to the virus antigen in the sample, and it reacts with the coated antibody, it will easily lead to false positive results.

In addition, if the amount of antigen is small, it is easy to produce false negative results, so generally speaking, antigen detection can not be used as the basis for diagnosis. If you want more accurate detection, then it is recommended to carry out nucleic acid detection.

The incubation period of Omicrovirus varies from person to person.

Due to the different constitution of each person, the incubation period of Omicron after entering the body varies from person to person, the short one is only 1-3 days, and the long one is about 14-2 1 day.

Moreover, because most of the diseases caused by Omicrovirus are mild and easily overlooked by human body, if there are similar symptoms and related epidemiology, it is necessary to carry out nucleic acid testing in time and report to local, community and village staff.