The Certe medical laboratory in Groningen, together with the Frisian Izore, has obtained a test to check whether people have had the coronavirus. These tests can be performed at the request of general practitioners and medical specialists.
This weekend or later this week, all doctors will receive a letter informing them of the availability of the tests. The tests are not for everyone who would like to know if they have had corona. “It concerns a relatively small group of people who were ill some time ago, but still have respiratory problems,” says microbiology director Certe Anne-Marie van Elsacker.
Not for everyone
Patients who are now admitted and who have all the symptoms of COVID-19, but where it is not apparent from the respiratory test, are also tested. Some of those patients have had complaints for some time and the virus is no longer in the upper respiratory tract.
Van Elsacker really wants everyone to be tested if someone wants to, but there is not enough capacity for this in several places. ‘Not all blood tests are equally suitable for blood sampling for many people. Also, people cannot just go to the hospital because they are just now starting to take up regular care again. ‘
Reliability
However, more tests can now be taken. “These tests also have to go to the lab, but performing these tests is much less complicated than the tests with which you immediately check whether you have corona, the so-called PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test,” says Van Elsacker.
According to Van Elsacker, the test that Certe has now brought home is a very reliable test. “We have a lot of tests on the market and they have been massively rejected, this is now a test that does test well.” The test comes from the Chinese Wantai lab and the Dutch government has bought one million of them.
Only positive results give the correct result
“We hope that we can test so much, but if there are many patients in China again and they suddenly test people en masse in China, then I also know: Those tests that they now use will not come to us,” says Van Elsacker . That is why she has indicated to the purchaser of Certe that she wants a lot of tests. “Yes, buy in well. We don’t get them all, but I want as much as possible. “
However, Van Elsacker would like to emphasize that not all tests offer the correct result one hundred percent. “With these tests, we can only say that someone has had corona if there is a positive result. If a negative result comes out, it does not mean that the person has not had a corona. It just means that the person now has no antibodies (anymore) in the body. “
Also read:
– Everything about the coronavirus in Groningen
– GGD: we can easily handle hundreds of corona tests a day
– .
