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People Exposed to Covid May Need to Take as Many as Three At-Home Tests, F.D.A. Says

U.S. Food and Drug Administration made a new recommendation On Thursday, asymptomatic people using Covid-19 antigen testing at home will have at least three tests, each 48 hours apart, to reduce the chance of missing an infection.

Officials say anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 should undergo at least two tests 48 hours apart.

The new guidelines were created after the highly contagious BA.5 variant of Omicron continued to spread and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed recommendations for routine surveillance testing in most situations.

Many people report that home testing failed to detect the infection, but studies show that rapid antigen testing is as effective in detecting omicron as it was in detecting delta, which was previously feared. It has generally been shown to be excellent.

Rapid antigen tests, less sensitive than PCR tests, are designed to be used serially and are most likely to detect coronavirus when people are tested repeatedly over several days, experts say. I have pointed out.

But the new recommendations underscore the need for “additional testing over a longer period of time,” officials said.

“FDA’s new recommendations for at-home Covid-19 antigen testing highlight the importance of repeating testing after a negative test result to increase the chances of detecting infection,” the FDA said. said Dr. Jeff Schulen, director of the Device Center, Radiological Health said in a statement.

The new guidance is new national survey, has not yet been published in a scientific journal. The study, led by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Chang School of Medicine, focused on 154 people who tested positive for the virus on his PCR test between October 2021 and February this year.

Among symptomatic people, two tests 48 hours apart detected 93% of infections. However, the same testing pattern detected infection in an asymptomatic person in only 63% of him.

When asymptomatic people were tested three times every two days, the test detected 79% of infections.

Nathaniel Hafer, a molecular biologist at UMass Chan Medical School and the study’s author, said in a statement that the results “suggest that the antigen test suite remains a useful way to detect infection.” .

People who are still worried about possible infection after a few negative at-home antigen tests should continue testing on their own, seek a more sensitive PCR test, or see a doctor. The FDA said it could consult.

Anyone who tests positive at home should be assumed infected and should follow guidelines set by the CDC, the agency said.

The CDC updated its Covid-19 guidance on Thursday, but did not change its recommendation that anyone who tests positive for the coronavirus should quarantine at home for at least five days.

The FDA said people don’t have to use the same brand of test every time.

“If you plan to use the COVID-19 antigen test at home, have several tests available so that you can be tested multiple times,” officials said.

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