rapid antigen test

In August last year we learned that the PCR test, to which we were slowly adjusting , was too slow to be helpful when the pressure was on in tracking and tracing.  We needed a rapid test.  This has now been developed and renamed as the rapid antigen test.  It works on the basis that it reacts to proteins called antigens which are on the surface of the virus.  The word antigen breaks down into anti(body) plus the suffix –gen meaning ‘generating’.

 The results of this test can be available within thirty minutes, this being a considerable improvement on the PCR test. The downside is that it is less reliable than the PCR test.  A false positive case can be corrected later, but a false negative puts an infectious person back out in the community.  So when Sydney’s Delta outbreak was recognised to be a cause for great alarm, the notion of turning to the rapid antigen testing method was raised again, and again turned down.  There is still discussion about using it in certain contexts such as aged care facilities, schools and workplaces.