Reducing False Negative PCR Test for COVID-19

Fatemeh Bahreini, Rezvan Najafi, Razieh Amini, Salman Khazaei, Saeid Bashirian, Fatemeh Bahreini, Rezvan Najafi, Razieh Amini, Salman Khazaei, Saeid Bashirian

Abstract

As the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic spreads rapidly, there is need for a diagnostic test with high accuracy to detect infected individuals especially those without symptoms. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a common molecular test for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2. If some factors are not taken into consideration when performing this test, it can have a relatively large number of false negative results. In this article, we discuss important considerations that could lead to false negative test reduction.

Keywords: COVID-19; Diagnosis; Emerging disease; False negatives; Genetics; RT-PCR test; Real time polymerase chain reaction; SARS-CoV-2.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no competing interest.

Copyright © 2020 Bahreini et al.

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Source: PubMed

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