SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 disease: a mini review on diagnostic methods.

SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 disease: a mini review on diagnostic methods. Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2020;62:e44 Authors: Oliveira BA, Oliveira LC, Sabino EC, Okay TS Abstract Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease initially reported in China and currently worldwide dispersed caused by a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) affecting more than seven million people around the world causing more than 400 thousand deaths (on June 8th, 2020). The diagnosis of COVID-19 is based on the clinical and epidemiological history of the patient. However, the gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis is the viral detection through the amplification of nucleic acids. Although the quantitative Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) has been described as the gold standard for diagnosing COVID-19, there are several difficulties involving its use. Here we comment on RT-PCR and describe alternative tests developed for the diagnosis of COVID-19. PMID: 32609256 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo Source Type: research