All you need is a saliva sample and two hours to find out if you currently have the virus or antibodies inside your body.
A group of researchers in Boston has designed a postcard-sized test that can detect both SARS-CoV-2 infection and the presence of antibodies as a result of a recent infection — delivering a two-in-one punch that can diagnose active COVID cases. (including identifying the responsible variant), as well as how well someone is protected from future infection, thanks to antibody levels.
The researchers hope that their new portable device, which tests a patient's saliva sample within two hours, will be a valuable tool to help limit sudden spikes in new cases caused by the emergence of new variants over time.
Preliminary results of the device were published Monday in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.
"In the early days, everyone was working on developing diagnostics that could detect SARS-CoV-2 or antibodies against it, but not both," said co-author Helena de Puig, a bioengineering researcher at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biological Research. Inspired Engineering in a press release. She added that this new test is all-in-one.
The test combines two existing COVID technologies developed by Wyss Institute researchers. The first, a diagnostic test for a variant detailed last August in a paper published in Science Advances, looks for the RNA common to all types of coronavirus as well as their respective parts.
The other test measures COVID antibodies by cramming them between two probes to create an electrical signal.
Using samples from 19 patients infected with the COVID virus and 11 negative patients, the researchers found that their diagnosis was 100 percent accurate in detecting viral antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 RNA and IgG produced in response to infection.