DOH consults WHO after SoKor test kit failed RITM validation

DOH consults WHO after SoKor test kit failed RITM validation By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said it is coordinating with the World Health Organization (WHO) about an antigen test kit included in the WHO emergency use listing but failed the local validation on sensitivity.

“The SD Bio Sensor is the first antigen Apart from the pilot test on test kit that has been validated by antigen test kits, Vergeire said the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine RITM is also studying saliva testing for (RITM), and, yes, it’s true it didn’t meet Covid-19. the diagnostic performance we have set based on the recommendation of “There are two things about the WHO which should be all antigen saliva. One is saliva is used as specimen test kits must have 80 percent sensitivity instead of the nasopharyngeal and and 90 percent specificity,” said DOH the oropharyngeal specimens, meron Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire namang isa na itinutuloy na nila sa during a virtual media forum on Wednesday. pagte-test (there’s another one where they continue on with the test), so, you call it saliva testing,” she said. Vergeire said the SD Bio Sensor, an antigen test kit from South Korea, has only 71 percent sensitivity based on the validation conducted by the RITM.

“So now, we’re studying this and having discussions with WHO what must be the steps since it did not pass the local validation on sensitivity but it was approved as an emergency use product in (by) the WHO,” she said. She said the Philippine Red Cross is already conducting a trial using saliva as specimen.

“So dalawang institutions ang gumagawa ngayon ng pag-aaral dito sa (So two institutions are now already conducting studies on this) saliva testing as a possible specimen for testing for Covid-19,” she said. “Aside from that we still don’t have other studies.” (PNA)

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