Covid tests are done on patients based on the symptoms they are exhibiting. But the quick covid tests don’t differentiate between the type of variant a patient is carrying. There are new variants of coronavirus arising and are much stronger than previous ones, For example, Omicron.
Difficulty In Identifying The Type Of Variant In Patients
With the quick test identifying the type of variant becomes difficult. Since a lot of quick tests are taken every day, doctors are finding it difficult in identifying the type of variant in patients.
With the current testing of COVID-19, identifying between omicron and delta variants has become a worrisome topic among doctors. Only if there’s a quick test to identify the type of variant, it will make a huge difference. If the variant is found to be an omicron or delta variant and if it is severe then it can make a difference in the life and death of a patient.
Though there is no specific test for identifying an individual’s variant, there is a genomic sequencing test that is done to identify the omicron variant. Genomic Sequencing takes up quite some time to detect and give out the result. Since genomic testing takes its time to detect the variant it takes too long to target the early antibody treatments. There are antibodies found to give omicron and delta variant infected patients to reduce the need for hospitalization.
Antibody-drug given to delta patients is made by Regeneron and Eli Lily while a community of omicron patients would benefit from the antibody-drug from GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology. Health systems can decide a certain type of antibodies among these to keep and use in their clinics and hospitals.
As delta and especially omicron cases are increasing rapidly providing treatment to every patient is going to be extremely challenging for the country. The Republican political leaders put up a doubt that some people in the states are still infected by the delta variant of coronavirus.
Immediately later the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C) rolled out an estimation of omicron cases to be 59 percent. This estimation forced federal officials to resume the shipment of all the antibody treatments.
Dr. Greninger is identified to be the person who became successful in developing one of the first cases to detect the Coronavirus in the United States. According to him, the health system may not reach a point this quick where they can identify the difference in the variants of coronavirus.
If the variants could be sorted then the patient can be treated based accordingly and it would not lead to severe or worse conditions if the disease is identified at the beginning and treated initially. Since the omicron variant of coronavirus is highly transmissible and the cases of infected patients with omicron are increasing there is a need to boost up the production of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology antibodies which are used in treating a patient with omicron.
Though there may not be a proper treatment for omicron yet, these antibodies keep a patient away from hospitalization and death. There have to be improvements in quick tests of coronavirus in order to identify the type of variant a patient has been infected with.
