Self-testing for COVID-19 is part of the risk reduction measures, along with vaccination, face masks and physical distancing. They can be done at home or on the go, are easy to use and produce quick results. They can be used regardless of vaccination status or whether or not you have symptoms. L he Argentine Pharmaceutical Confederation reported that self-tests for COVID-19 would begin to be sold next week in the country's pharmacies.
According to Infobae , the pharmacist Isabel Reinoso, president of the Argentine Pharmaceutical Confederation (COFA), "next week the self-tests or self-assessment tests would enter the pharmacies." Until now, the tests to determine if a person has COVID-19 have been carried out in public centers dependent on the health authorities of each jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, sources from the Farmacity chains responded to Infobae : “Farmacity is making every effort to provide the best health and wellness response to patients and the community in general. In this sense, we have been pioneers in offering the Immunobio test for professional use and we are carrying out all the procedures to quickly incorporate the rest of the self-tests approved by the health authority and that are still in the process of being supplied by the laboratories and importers”. Farmacity won't sell the autotests tomorrow. He does not yet have the precise date on which he will do so.
On January 6, the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medicine (ANMAT) approved the individual use of four self-assessment tests based on the detection of coronavirus from Abbott, Roche, Vyam Group and Wiener laboratories for exclusive sale in pharmacies . This measure will mean that in addition to public places where testing is done for free, the population will be able to go to pharmacies and buy the test.
According to the COFA president, When a person buys the test at the pharmacy, the pharmacy will take care of reporting the case (both positive and negative) to the surveillance system of the Ministry of Health of the Nation. "The pharmacist would dispense, monitor the patient and record the positive or negative result in the national health surveillance system," she said. "The patient will also have the possibility of registering it from her phone and that result uploaded by the patient will impact the pharmacy system that dispenses it and the pharmacist will notify the national health surveillance system," she added.
The data will be stored in the pharmaceutical computer database and will be reported to the National Health Surveillance System (SNVS) by authorized pharmaceutical groups, in the case of individual user test reports or by public or private institutions. Positive cases will be integrated into the COVID-19 case notification, while negative cases will be classified as "negative, unclassified." Invalid test cases must be repeated to define the result. If the pharmacist does not receive the user's report once the test has been carried out, he must report this situation to the jurisdictional health authority.
The products approved by the ANMTA were the following: Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test, SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Self Test Nasal, SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (COVID-19 Ag), and WL Check SARS-CoV- 2Ag Self Testing. "They are for diagnostic orientation and users must collect the sample by themselves based on the manufacturers' instructions," according to the National Ministry of Health.
The self-tests give "guidance results, without conclusive diagnostic value, except that the jurisdictions, in agreement with the National Ministry of Health and based on the epidemiological situation, consider the result as positive." Unlike tests for professional use where the sample is taken at the nasopharyngeal level, in the case of self-assessment tests it is performed at the nasal level or by saliva, as specified by the manufacturer.
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It is important that the sample is taken correctly and that the test is performed immediately to avoid erroneous results. If the person has no symptoms or if the viral load is low (which can occur during the initial or final days of infection) the coronavirus may not be detected by the test, so a negative result does not rule out infection.
Self-assessment tests have already been used for COVID-19 since last year in countries such as Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria and the United States. When self-testing is to be used, it is recommended that all manufacturer's instructions for performing the test be followed.
If you test positive, you should self-isolate and notify a health care professional, as well as any close contacts, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A positive self-test result means that the test has detected the virus and that you most likely have an infection and should stay home and self-isolate to avoid spreading it to others. In Argentina, the isolation time is different depending on whether the person was vaccinated or not.
A negative self-test result means the test did not detect the virus and the person cannot have an infection, but infection is not ruled out. Repeating the test in a few days, with at least 24 hours between tests, will increase confidence that you are not infected.
Despite its benefits, The United States drug and vaccine regulatory authority, better known by its acronym in English as the FDA, warned in late December that self-tests carried out at home to detect if a person has the COVID-19 disease may be less sensitive. if you were infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus . Despite the difference with other variants of concern, the regulatory agency affirmed that these types of tests continue to be a useful tool at this time of the pandemic.
In making the warning, the FDA relied on recent studies with the National Institutes of Health. These works showed that although the antigen tests detected the Omicron variant, they did so with less sensitivity. This means that rapid tests will detect an infection less often. The agency said it couldn't share any information about how much less sensitive any of the tests might be to the variant, but is working to get more details.
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