August 4, 2020

Evaluation of Serological SARS-CoV-2 Lateral Flow Assays for Rapid Point of Care Testing

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• [pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Conklin et al. evaluated 15 different rapid point-of-care tests for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from 40 SARS-CoV-2 infected, convalescent individuals (average 45 days post-symptom onset) and 60 pre-pandemic samples from negative control individuals (known to be infected with other respiratory viruses; rhinoviruses and coronaviruses). Overall, sensitivity ranged from 55-97%, and specificity ranged from 78-100%. Sensitivity and specificity values were higher for IgG alone than for IgM alone. Cross–reactivity was more pronounced with sera from patients infected with strains of coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2. Median time post–symptom onset to a positive result was 7 days for IgM (IQR 5.4, 9.8) and 8.2 days for IgG (IQR 6.3, 11.3).  

Conklin et al. (August 4, 2020). Evaluation of Serological SARS-CoV-2 Lateral Flow Assays for Rapid Point of Care Testing. Pre-print downloaded on August 4 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.31.20166041