Comparison of performance of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test kit with RT-qPCR Test for diagnosis of Covid-19

Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (q-RT), which detects the presence of viral RNA in appropriate clinical samples, is the gold standard in routine microbiological diagnosis of the COVID-19 epidemic, which is caused by the SARSCoV-2 virus, which has gone down in history as today's pandemic. -PCR). Antigen tests developed to detect viral proteins in the serological diagnosis of COVID-19 disease have also started to become widespread. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of the Rapid Antigen test, which is a rapid immunochromatographic test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen, compared to PCR. For this purpose, samples taken from volunteers by nasopharyngeal swab method were studied simultaneously and the results were evaluated in the light of parameters such as age, gender, Ct value, and symptoms. While the PCR and Rapid Antigen test results of 148 people from our study group of 185 people were compatible, the results of 37 people were inconsistent. In general, the sensitivity and specificity for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the antigen test were 63% and 100%, respectively. The accuracy of the antigen test was found to be 80% (Cohen's K=0.690, 95%, p<0.001). In the Covid-19 pandemic, an important data has been brought to the literature in order to investigate the sensitivity and specificity of the Rapid antigen test with the high sensitivity of the RT-PCR test for the diagnosis of negative-positive results and to help expand the data of these studies. Strategies such as early detection, treatment, isolation of infected individuals and patient management including contacts provide benefits such as slowing the spread of the virus and keeping the infection under control. In this regard, we believe that there is a need to develop new methods and investigate the sensitivities of new methods for timely and accurate laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19.