Video: How testing has kept up with new COVID-19 variants

Medical Xpress September 9, 2024
Joel Streed, Mayo Clinic

While COVID-19 continues to evolve, there is some good news when it comes to detecting the virus.

“The tests we’ve used over the last three or four years don’t seem to be significantly impacted by the new variants,” says Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.

He says that the molecular, or PCR, tests processed in laboratories look at multiple parts of the genetic makeup of the virus, so even if there are mutations in one area, a test can still pick up the virus. “And the home antigen tests look for a different protein altogether from where we’re seeing these mutations in the recent variants,” says Dr. Binnicker.

So what should you do if...

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