Comparison of RT-qPCR results of different gene targets for SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic individuals during COVID-19 pandemic
, , , , , , , , and | Jul 24, 2021
Article Category: COVID-19 Special Issue
Published Online: Jul 24, 2021
Page range: 26 - 31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebtj-2021-0018
Keywords
© 2021 Gulten Tuncel, Mahmut Cerkez Ergoren, Buket Baddal, Pinar Tulay, Ayse Arikan, Emrah Guler, Cenk Serhan Ozverel, H. Kaya Suer, Murat Sayan, Tamer Sanlidag, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
A reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is regarded as the most sensitive method available and is being used for screening procedure for all incoming passengers to Northern Cyprus for SARS-CoV-2. This study investigated the compatibility of two different RT-qPCR methodologies Diagnovital® and Bio-Speedy® by re-analyzing the previously confirmed positive samples. A total of 43 previously confirmed positive samples were re-analyzed by two different commercially available SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR kits. Only 23.5% of positive samples detected by Diagnovital® RT-qPCR kit were detected by Bio-Speedy® detection kit.
In conclusion, adoption of Diagnovital® RT-qPCR kit detecting two regions of SARS-CoV-2 genome in our laboratories enabled the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in asymptomatic cases with higher sensitivity and contributed to the prevention of viral transmission within the country. The timely detection of infection in asymptomatic individuals may be the key to a successful fight against the COVID- 19 pandemic.