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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Rodriguez urges DOH to discourage use of rapid antibody test, cites dangers, recommends RT-PCR instead

Rodriguez urges DOH to discourage use of rapid antibody test, cites dangers, recommends RT-PCR instead

Published Aug 31, 2020 12:33 pm

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez called on the Department of Health (DOH) today to discourage the use of rapid antibody test as he noted that medical experts have warned against the dangers it poses to public health.

(JANSEN ROMERO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

Rodriguez aired the appeal as he filed House Resolution No. 1146 recommending that DOH must instead promote the use of reverse transcription polymerage chain reaction (RT-PCR) or swab test to screen people suspected of having COVID-19.

Citing confirmed medical studies, Rodriguez said being the gold standard in determining coronavirus infection on persons, the RT-PCR is preferred over the RAT that “can only detect antibodies which the body produces in response to an infectious agent such as a virus.”

The House Committee on Health has been tasked to study and deliberate on HR 1146 in order for the House to reach a decision on whether or not the resolution should be adopted and recommended to the DOH.

According to Rodriguez, the use of RAT was banned in several countries as a result of the medical findings about its inaccurancies in detecting COVID-19.

He recalled that pulmonary and critical care specialist Dr. Anna York Bondoc, a former congresswoman from Pampanga, has called on DOH to stop the use of RAT “because they are highly inaccurate.”

“As a result, many people are put in quarantine because of false positive results, while some who are infected with the new coronavirus but are cleared are spreading the disease,” Rodriguez said, quoting Bondoc.

He added that Bondoc “believes that wrong clinical decisions made with inaccurate results from rapid tests have been fueling the rise in COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila."

Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Reform, lamented that despite RAT’s inaccuracy, many business establishments are still using it to test workers returning to work as the country reopens its economy.

Rodriguez cited statements by experts to support his call for the DOH to discourage rapid anti-body testing. He quoted microbiologist-scientist Prof. Marilen Balolong of UP-Manila as saying RT-PCR is at least 97 percent accurate, while RAT’s reliability is 30 percent to 80 percent.

“There have been plenty of reports that these rapid tests produce false positive and false negative results,” he said.

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