New antigenic tests make it possible to detect Covid-19 and influenza in the same sample. Explanations.
Two in one. New tests, equipped with a single swab, make it possible to detect two viruses at the same time: that of the flu and of Covid. What to facilitate the diagnosis, and to adapt the treatment of the patients.
Where to get it ?
This is a test already available in some pharmaciesnoted France info.
How does this test work?
This last one is less unpleasant than with a swab and you just have to wait a few minutes to know the result, reliable between 96 and 99%reports one of the companies producing this test in France 3.
“The sample is the same, it is nasal mucus that we will recover, and that we will not only migrate on a strip which will detect the antigens of Covid, but also the antigens of the flu”, explains Fabien Larue, director of the AAZ laboratory, which produces this test, to our colleagues.
Is it reimbursed?
No, not for the moment. It is billed 5 euros. The High Authority for Health is in the process of evaluating it with a view to its possible repaymenthowever, specifies France info. In some regions, general practitioners already offer it free of charge. Practitioners are waiting for the green light from the Ministry of Health to generalize them.
A test to detect Covid, influenza and even RSV, the virus that causes bronchiolitis, developed by one of the companies producing these tests, is also in the test phase, according to TF1 Info.