Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, rarely appeared in the conjunctiva when tested by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, according to a meta-analysis published in Optometry and Vision Science.

The FDA announced it authorized the first combination test that allows patients to collect saliva samples at home and have them analyzed at a laboratory for the presence of COVID-19, influenza A and influenza B.

Molecular tests and antigen tests have characteristics that make them ideal — and sometimes not so ideal — in the clinical setting, a speaker at the Infectious Diseases in Children Symposium said.

Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR, yielded a false-negative rate as low as 20% and as high as 100% among patients who were tested for infection with SARS-CoV-2, according to a literature review and pooled analysis published in Annals of Internal Medicine.