Covid-19 Tests

[Mr Ripple]

Been told today that the Covid-19 test is not specific and is generic for Viruses as a whole.
Things like normal flu etc..... are being counted as Covid-19 positives.

Anyone know if this is true?

 

[TheLiqidator]

Been told today that the Covid-19 test is not specific and is generic for Viruses as a whole.
Things like normal flu etc..... are being counted as Covid-19 positives.

Anyone know if this is true?

I would say no, me and my misses had a bad flu a while back and both got tested and were negative but it was a full on proper flu. I have read a few things that the positive tests cant be sure that the people are still infectious though as they may have had it for weeks and the positive test is finding dead cells like those 3 young guys that have been stuck in italy for around 2 months as they wont let them come home until they've gave 2 negative test results even though they have isolated longer than anyone here would be asked to.

 

[zouzounaki]

no, it’s not true. a work colleague mentioned this the other day prompting me to have a look on google.

https://fullfact.org/online/PCR-test-coronavirus/

 

[akuma]

Couple of interesting articles on the unreliability of pcr testing

https://archive.is/Nx0eb

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2420/rr-5

 

[zouzounaki]

Couple of interesting articles on the unreliability of pcr testing

https://archive.is/Nx0eb

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2420/rr-5

i think these are pretty useless. the first one has been written by a libertarian bitcoin tycoon with an agenda and the second one isn’t an article, it’s basically a letter to the editor from a retired gp who also references the other guy (the paleo diet expert) from a few days ago.

they aren’t relevant to the op in any way either.

 

[akuma]

i think these are pretty useless. the first one has been written by a libertarian bitcoin tycoon with an agenda and the second one isn’t an article, it’s basically a letter to the editor from a retired gp who also references the other guy (the paleo diet expert) from a few days ago.

they aren’t relevant to the op in any way either.

They are relevant as the op mentions that the tests for covid 19 are not specific to covid which they are not.
They are pcr tests. Highly unreliable and not recommended for diagnostics.

 

[zouzounaki]

They are relevant as the op mentions that the tests for covid 19 are not specific to covid which they are not.
They are pcr tests. Highly unreliable and not recommended for diagnostics.

covid 19 pcr tests are specific to covid 19. neither of your articles say otherwise.

 

[akuma]

covid 19 pcr tests are specific to covid 19. neither of your articles say otherwise.

pcr tests were not invented to detect covid 19 they have been around quite a while. They are looking for traces of dna or RNA in this case RNA. They are around 60% accurate but a lot of people think that figure is much lower. They might not pick up enough of the virus on the swabs to give false negatives and can give false positives by detecting other RNA viruses the person being tested has previously been exposed to such as the common cold.
Antibody testing is much less reliable for obvious reasons.

 

[zouzounaki]

pcr tests were not invented to detect covid 19 they have been around quite a while. They are looking for traces of dna or RNA in this case RNA. They are around 60% accurate but a lot of people think that figure is much lower. They might not pick up enough of the virus on the swabs to give false negatives and can give false positives by detecting other RNA viruses the person being tested has previously been exposed to such as the common cold.
Antibody testing is much less reliable for obvious reasons.

i know this, it still doesn’t mean the tests in question aren’t specific to covid 19, which is what the op was asking about. they are.

 

[akuma]

Been told today that the Covid-19 test is not specific and is generic for Viruses as a whole.
Things like normal flu etc..... are being counted as Covid-19 positives.

Anyone know if this is true?

Yes they are generic tests that look for DNA or RNA they are used for lots of things other than covid 19.
I doubt they are counting flu cases as covid on purpose but its possible the unreliability of the tests is giving false positives by detecting other viruses.