SARS-CoV-2 screening strategies for returning international travellers: Evaluation of a rapid antigen test approach

  • Background: International travel poses the risk of importing SARS-CoV-2 infections and introducing new viral variants into the country of destination. Established measures include mandatory quarantine with the opportunity to abbreviate it with a negative rapid antigen test (RAT). Methods: A total of 1,488 returnees were tested for SARS-CoV-2 with both PCR and RAT no earlier than 5 days after arrival. We assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the RAT. Positive samples were evaluated for infectivity in vitro in a cell culture outgrowth assay. We tracked if participants who tested negative were reported positive within 2 weeks of the initial test. Results: Potential infectiousness was determined based on symptom onset analysis, resulting in a sensitivity of the antigen test of 89% in terms of infectivity. The specificity was 100%. All positive outgrowth assays were preceded by a positive RAT, indicating that all participants with proven in vitro infectivity were correctly identified. None of the negative participants tested positive during the follow-up. Conclusions: RAT no earlier than the 5th day after arrival was a reliable method for detecting infectious travellers and can be recommended as an appropriate method for managing SARS-CoV-2 travel restrictions. Compliance to the regulations and a high standard of test quality must be ensured.

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Author:Emily Layer, Sebastian HoehlORCiDGND, Marek WideraORCiDGND, Denisa BojkovaORCiDGND, Tim Westphal, René GottschalkORCiDGND, Boris Böddinghaus, Joscha David SchorkGND, Sandra CiesekORCiDGND, Udo GötschGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-782780
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2022.02.045
ISSN:1201-9712
Parent Title (English):International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Publisher:Elsevier
Place of publication:Amsterdam
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/03/17
Date of first Publication:2022/03/02
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/02/02
Tag:Antigen test; Quarantine; SARS-CoV-2 testing; Travel regulations
Volume:118
Page Number:6
First Page:126
Last Page:131
HeBIS-PPN:521957257
Institutes:Medizin
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International