key: cord-0867708-y57p6uxd
authors: Stokes, Nadarra L.; Reed, Katelyn A.; Berbari, Elie F.; Vetter, Sara; Binnicker, Matthew J.
title: Evaluation of the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test in an Asymptomatic Patient Population Undergoing Preprocedural Screening
date: 2021-11-18
journal: J Clin Microbiol
DOI: 10.1128/jcm.01650-21
sha: 053120785d96ffb59f091244ecde563683035fae
doc_id: 867708
cord_uid: y57p6uxd

As of September 2021, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases have exceeded 220 million and resulted in over 4 million deaths worldwide, as reported by the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Resource Center (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html).….

patients had a positive result, two had an indeterminate result (i.e., low-level PCR signal; confirmed as positive the following day), and one had an inconclusive result (i.e., possible interfering substance). These seven patients tested negative by the BinaxNOW rapid antigen test. One patient was positive by the BinaxNOW antigen test but negative by the routine molecular test (Table 1) . A limitation of this study was the low number of patients testing positive by the molecular and/or antigen tests, which limits any conclusions that can be made about the sensitivity of antigen testing.

In conclusion, 6 (0.6%) of 997 patients were confirmed by molecular testing to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, and antigen was negative in each of these cases. Of these six patients, three had been previously diagnosed with COVID-19 .20 days prior, so the molecular results likely suggest persistent viral RNA. Three other patients were positive for the first time for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, but all were asymptomatic at the time of testing. The rapid antigen test demonstrated high specificity (99.8%) with only one false-positive result out of 991 samples that were negative by molecular testing. In areas of low disease prevalence, screening of asymptomatic patients with a molecular test prior to a procedure or surgery will likely maximize sensitivity and reduce potential exposure to health care staff.

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