Pascale hospital in Naples on the front line for rapid tests against Coronavirus. The news, which comes at a difficult time for Campania on the pandemic front, gives hope. Despite the hospitals in the region now full, the Covid beds almost sold out, the certainty of a lockdown for this weekend starting at 23pm on Friday. Tests, pending a vaccine or adequate therapy, are confirmed in this phase of the epidemic as one of the main tools to stem it. And if the test identifies and allows you to track positive cases, the timeliness of its result allows it to be used in schools, principals, and wherever a rapid response is needed.
The timeliness of the results also means quarantine periods aimed only at those who are positive, and not also at those who could be positive but are awaiting the response of the swab. It means speeding up the procedures and avoiding uncomfortable situations (queues and endless waits as we have seen so many times in these days) for those who have to undergo the test.
The quick test response in less than two hours
The National Institute for the Study and Treatment of Cancer Pascale of Naples has developed a device capable of directly examining the genetic material of the virus without the need for extraction and purification. So much faster than other tests. A highly technological tool capable of giving an answer, in one hour and forty minutes, at the same time for six people without the aid of the laboratory. Has been experimented in the department of Professor Paolo Antonio Ascierto, director of Medical Oncology and Innovative Therapies of the Melanoma Department. The trial, launched last summer on patients and employees, appears to be giving very encouraging results.
At the moment the test is still being validated. What are the main ones advantages of the quick test what is being experimented at the Pascale Institute? L' reduction of response times, reduction of costs, good degree of reliability. The device was created by researchers from the Naples hospital in collaboration with a multinational company in the medical biotechnology sector. It has had the interest and approval of the Canadian government, so much so that the diagnostic kit is currently the only solution of this type - at the moment - commercially available in Canada.
In Veneto a new type of antigenic pad
In this race for rapid tests, recently the Veneto region announced that, first in Italy, is successfully testing a new type of rapid antigenic swab. That is, capable of searching for the presence of viral proteins capable of binding to antibodies. This tampon is performed with extremely simple procedures, is minimally invasive and has a high degree of reliability. It provides the answer in about ten minutes. It is not processed in the laboratory, it works with a swab and a small apparatus and in any environment. In perspective, it will also be possible to think about self-administration.
The test and the tools to perform it, they explain to the Veneto Region, have already been validated by the highest American scientific authority. As this is a rapid antigenic test, this modality has already been validated by the Italian Ministry of Health. The experts of the Region therefore believe that no further evaluation at ministerial level is necessary. The president Luca Zaia announced that “The tenders for the purchase of the necessary have already started. We hope to be able to start this new path within a few weeks ”.
Of tampons rapid antigenic, with outcome within 15 minutes, we speak in these hours also in Lombardy. The experimentation will involve 14 schools for the city of Milan. Plus some first and second grade schools of the reference territories of the Ats, the Health Protection Agencies, of Brianza and Insubria. A similar experiment started yesterday in Piedmont.
