Opinion – Julio Abramczyk: The necessary precautions in the self-test

This week, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) authorized the use of a second self-test for Covid-19, registered as Autotest Covid Ag Detect.

The first of this type of test to be used by laypeople was named Novel Coronavirus Antigen.

Possibly several other self-tests must be authorized to compete with the current ones.

Anvisa highlights that self-tests should be used solely as a quick screening for people with symptoms to stop the transmission of the coronavirus. Carriers with a positive test will spontaneously isolate themselves and prevent the spread of the virus.

The self-test has no official document value. Therefore, the positive test needs to be confirmed by the RT-PCR exam in a health center, hospital or analysis laboratory.

In all tests, PCR or self-test, swabs are used to detect, if present, fragments of genetic material from the virus.

Considered safe despite being invasive and uncomfortable, the exam is performed by swabbing the swab to collect secretions from the nasopharyngeal region.

However, rare situations indicate possibilities of complications, as reported by Anni Koskinem and colleagues from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the University Hospital of Helsinki, Finland, at Jama Otolaryngology, Head and Neck.

Despite the low occurrence of complications (1.24 per 100,000 exams), broken nails had to be removed by nasal endoscopy under local anesthesia.

643,284 RT-PCR tests were performed, with 8 cases of complications: 4 nosebleeds, 4 broken swabs, 7 female and 1 male.

Complications involved the use of incorrect technique during the examination: excessive use of force on the swab or inappropriate direction for the swab swab.

The authors conclude that force should never be used and that the cotton swab should be directed along the nasal floor, until it encounters resistance.