Eurosurv. Sensitivity and specificity of the antigen-based anterior nasal self-testing programme for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection in schools, Austri

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• Peter Willeit[SUP]1,2,*[/SUP] , Benoît Bernar[SUP]3,*[/SUP] , Christoph Zurl[SUP]4,5,6,*[/SUP] , Mariam Al-Rawi[SUP]7,8[/SUP] , Andrea Berghold[SUP]9[/SUP] , David Bernhard[SUP]10,11[/SUP] , Wegene Borena[SUP]12[/SUP] , Christian Doppler[SUP]10,11[/SUP] , Reinhold Kerbl[SUP]13[/SUP] , Alwin Köhler[SUP]7,8[/SUP] , Robert Krause[SUP]4,5[/SUP] , Bernd Lamprecht[SUP]14[/SUP] , Johannes Pröll[SUP]10[/SUP] , Hannes Schmidt[SUP]7,15[/SUP] , Ivo Steinmetz[SUP]16[/SUP] , Evelyn Stelzl[SUP]16[/SUP] , Heribert Stoiber[SUP]12[/SUP] , Dorothee von Laer[SUP]12[/SUP] , Johannes Zuber[SUP]7,17[/SUP] , Thomas Müller[SUP]3[/SUP] , Volker Strenger [SUP]18,**[/SUP] , Michael Wagner[SUP]7,15,19,**[/SUP]

This study evaluates the performance of the antigen-based anterior nasal screening programme implemented in all Austrian schools to detect SARS-CoV-2 infections. We combined nationwide antigen-based screening data obtained in March 2021 from 5,370 schools (Grade 1–8) with an RT-qPCR-based prospective cohort study comprising a representative sample of 244 schools. Considering a range of assumptions, only a subset of infected individuals are detected with the programme (low to moderate sensitivity) and non-infected individuals mainly tested negative (very high specificity).

full article

https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.34.2100797#html_fulltext