Fast and reliable real life data on COVID-19 triaging with ID NOW

• Published in: Journal of clinical virology plus 2022-02, Vol.2 (1), p.100065-100065, Article 100065
• Main Authors: Burdino, Elisa, Cerutti, Francesco, Milia, Maria Grazia, Allice, Tiziano, Gregori, Gabriella, Aprà, Franco, De Iaco, Fabio, Aluffi, Enzo, Micca, Gianmatteo, Ghisetti, Valeria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abbott ID NOW; COVID-19; Point-of-care; Rapid molecular testing; SARS-CoV-2; Short Communication
• ISSN: 2667-0380; 2667-0380
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcvp.2022.100065

•SARS CoV-2 rapid diagnosis is essential for emergency department.•Abbott ID NOW COVID-19, a rapid molecular test, was evaluated on 148 patients from emergency department.•ID NOW COVID-19 producing positive results within 5 to 13 min and negative results within 13–20 min, from dry nasal swabs.•Concordance/sensitivity/specificity were 96.6, 83.9, 100% compared to molecular test.•ID NOW COVID-19 can be considered as a first-line diagnostic test in the emergency room setting. In the context of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, rapid and easy-to-perform diagnostic methods are essential to limit the spread of the virus and for the clinical management of COVID-19 patients. Although real-time polymerase chain reaction remains the “gold standard” to diagnose acute infections, this technique is expensive, requires trained personnel, well-equipped laboratory and is time-consuming. A prospective evaluation of the Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 point-of-care testing that uses isothermal nucleic acid amplification for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp gene was run in the Emergency Department during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic. ID-NOW significantly simplified SARS-CoV-2 identification and COVID-19 patient triaging, being highly valuable in rapidly locating febrile patients in or out of COVID-19 areas, and can be considered as a first-line diagnostic test in the Emergency Room setting.