Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
CYPRUS JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, cilt.7, 2022 (ESCI)
BACKGROUND/AIM: To evaluate the results of simultaneous rapid antibody tests and Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests in
patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) retrospectively, and to evaluate the compatibility rates of these results with
clinical and radiological findings.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between March 31, 2020 and July 31, 2020, simultaneous COVID-19 RT-PCR and COVID-19 rapid antibody assay
were applied to the health care personnel who were admitted to a healthcare personnel COVID-19 outpatient clinic with COVID-19 complaints.
RESULTS: A total of 1010 healthcare personnel who were admitted to the healthcare personnel COVID-19 outpatient clinic were included in this
study. One hundred and sixty-seven of them (16.54%) were doctors, and 363 (35.94%) were nurses or midwives. The most common symptoms
were sore throat (27.92%), cough (25.94%) and weakness (14.75%). Throat nasal swab RT-PCR revealed that a total of 989 (98%) personnel had
PCR negative, and 21 (2%) had PCR positive results. Sixteen (1.58%) personnel did not have a registered assay result. Rapid antibody test revealed
that 1006 (99.6%) personnel had negative, and 4 (0.4%) personnel had positive results. When the assay results were evaluated with simultaneous
computed tomography findings, 990 (98%) did not have any signs suggesting COVID-19.
CONCLUSION: In serological rapid assays used to diagnose COVID-19, specific antibodies in the “window period” are at undetectable levels in
the patient’s blood. Therefore, false negative results may be obtained. For this reason, serological tests cannot be used as the basic diagnostic
tool for COVID-19 infections.
Keywords: Coronavirus, pandemic, antibody tests, RT-PCR