US clears first saliva test to help diagnose China virus – IOTW Report

US clears first saliva test to help diagnose China virus

ABC: Rutgers University researchers have received U.S. clearance for the first saliva-based test to help diagnose COVID-19.

WASHINGTON — Rutgers University researchers have received U.S. government clearance for the first saliva test to help diagnose COVID-19, a new approach that could help expand testing options and reduce risks of infection for health care workers.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the test under its emergency powers to quickly clear new tests and therapies to fight the outbreak, the New Jersey university said Monday. The test initially will be available through hospitals and clinics affiliated with the school. The announcement comes as communities across the U.S. continue to struggle with testing to help track and contain the coronavirus. more

7 Comments on US clears first saliva test to help diagnose China virus

  1. We don’t need any tests. We need to just stop this nonsense and go back to work. Viruses go around. After a while, there’s immunity. And unlike influenza, we have a treatment for this: hydroxychloroquine.

    And, by the way, not only do we not need tests, but they’re a very very very very very VERY bad idea, unless you want to start a social credit system like China, run by Big Tech, in which you have to carry papers to be permitted to go to the store or to work or to the park…

    This is not good news. This is BAD news.

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  2. a quick internet search shows antibody levels do not always correlate with immunity nor indicate how long immunity lasts.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/15/can-you-get-infected-by-coronavirus-twice-how-does-covid-19-immunity-work/#6881f45d5c0f

    [snip]
    Keep in mind though that antibody levels do not always correlate with immunity. They can be like selfies on Instagram, only indirect measures of what’s really going on at a deeper level. Some people may have immunity against a virus without detectable antibody levels, and some people may be very susceptible to infection even though antibodies are present. The only way to have determined if the patients actually had immunity against the SARS virus would have been to have re-exposed them to the virus and checked what happened. And that would have been a horrible experiment to do.

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    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/health/coronavirus-antibody-test.html

    [snip]
    The test delivers results in about 15 minutes. But just having antibodies does not guarantee immunity from the coronavirus. The new test looks only for the presence of the antibodies and delivers a qualitative yes or no answer — it does not say how well any antibodies are working, said Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in New York.

    Some people who are infected produce powerful immune responses; others do not. And scientists do not know how long immunity to this virus may last.

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