%0 Journal Article
%T SARS-COV-2 Rapid Antigen Test in Comparison with RT-PCR for Laboratory Diagnosis of COVID-19 in a Southwest State of Nigeria
%A Elvis Efe Isere
%A Matthew Temitope Oluwole
%A Moses Adewale Adejugbagbe
%A Temitope Olajumoke Omoju
%A Oluwatosin Oni
%A Ikeoluwapo Ajayi
%A Nosa Eniye Omorogbe
%A Tolulope Aderonke Fagbemi
%A Stephen Fagbemi
%J Open Journal of Epidemiology
%P 387-400
%@ 2165-7467
%D 2022
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojepi.2022.124032
%X <strong>Objectives:</strong> Rapid and accurate identification of persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 is key to managing the pandemic. The urgent need to scale up access to COVID-19 testing in Nigeria has led to the government¡¯s introduction of the use of COVID-19 Ag rapid diagnostic test (RDT) across various settings in the country. However, field performance evaluation of the rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test is required to be conducted periodically and compared with the gold standard real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for diagnosis of COVID-19 cases. <strong>Design:</strong> A prospective COVID-19 screening and un-blinded verification of the performance of the STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag test kit. <strong>Setting:</strong> The rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test, Standard<sup>TM</sup> Q COVID-19 Ag kit was compared with the RT-PCR test for detection of SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal samples for COVID-19 screening from persons and personnel attending a national youth camp orientation exercise during the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak (January to March 2021) in Ondo state, southwest Nigeria. <strong>Participants:</strong> Three hundred fifty-one persons and personnel were screened for COVID-19 infection. <strong>Results:</strong> Of 351 respondents screened, 68 (19.4%) were positive, and 264 (75.2%) were negative for both COVID-19 Ag RDT and RT-PCR assay. The rapid SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection test¡¯s sensitivity and specificity were 78.16% (95% CI = 68.02% - 86.31%) and 100.0% (95% CI = 98.61% - 100.0%), respectively and the diagnostic accuracy was 94.59% (95% CI: 92 - 97). Respondents that were symptomatic had a higher test sensitivity of 78.6% (49.2 - 95.3) compared to those without symptoms 78.1% (66.9 - 86.9) (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05).<strong> Conclusions:</strong> Our study shows evidence that Standard<sup>TM</sup> Q COVID-19 Ag kit can be an appropriate rapid antigen test that could be used to screen for positive COVID-19 tests to guide decision-making for clinical management of persons infected with COVID-19, especially for closed settings and other clinical care settings.
%K SARS-CoV-2
%K COVID-19 Rapid Antigen
%K RT-PCR
%K Sensitivity
%K Nigeria
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=120691