Sergei Avdeev, the chief freelance pulmonologist of the Ministry of Health, said that about 30-40% of tests for COVID-19 can give a false negative result. According to Avdeev, this is due to improper sampling of material from a person, and not to the quality of the test itself. The specialist also said that the incubation period of coronavirus infection in 95% of those infected lasts from two to six days.
“We do not question in any way how sensitive and specific they (test systems) are, but such a situation (obtaining a false negative result) may arise in our practice, - said Avdeev. - Approximately 30-40% [cases] ».
“The problem is not in the quality of the test, the problem is in taking the materials. Let's say the material is taken poorly, simply superficially. Unfortunately, we have a chance to get a false negative result , - added the specialist.
At the same time, the chief freelance pulmonologist of the Ministry of Health explained that the accuracy of the COVID-19 test also depends on the time of taking the material. At an early stage, there are more chances of getting a positive result, Avdeev believes. He clarified that the decision to re-take the test in specific cases, as a rule, is made by the doctor.
"In the presence of severe symptoms, clinical manifestations of COVID-19, the results of PCR testing do not affect the tactics of patient management," - concluded the expert of the Ministry of Health. He also recalled that the main symptoms of coronavirus are fever, weakness, cough, shortness of breath, headache. Smell and taste disorders are observed in half of the patients.
“Let's start, probably, with an increase in temperature - at least above 37.5 degrees - this is the lot of 90% of all cases. In second place, I would put weakness and fatigue - about 40%, cough is also about 40%, shortness of breath - 30%, headache - 20%, sore throat - about 10%, and, finally, about 10% is due to stool disturbance , - stated the specialist.
At the same time, epidemiologist and State Duma deputy Gennady Onishchenko did not agree with the statements of the chief freelance pulmonologist of the Ministry of Health. “We must be responsible for our words. There is nothing one hundred percent, especially when it comes to a person. The medicine can help me, it won't help you, do you understand? So it is with tests. There has never been and never will be a 100% guarantee that the test gives "yes" or "no", - Onishchenko told the TV channel "360".
He stated that "I would not advise Mr. Avdeev to scratch his tongue," because "the doctors know very well how to get out of the situation." “If a person has clinical data and there is no confirmation, such diagnoses are often made”, - assured the parliamentarian. He noted that in such cases, diagnoses are made according to clinical indications. Asymptomatic carriers, doctors always warn of the consequences when the disease proceeds without showing itself in any way. This happens, in particular, among salespeople and waiters.
“Where it is necessary to do retesting, do it again. Recheck on other tests. And let it be better for Mr. Avdeev to deal with issues of pulmonology, he has nothing to do with issues of infectious disease ", - says Onishchenko. In his opinion, Avdeev “wanted to be promoted” with his statements. “Nobody set a task to get one hundred percent tests, there is no such possibility. < > There is no need for Mr. Avdeev to go where he is not a professional ", - added Onishchenko.
In Russia, for the second day in a row, more than 19 thousand cases of new coronavirus infection have been detected. Over the past day, 19,404 people fell ill, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was 1,712,858. Most diseases in the last 24 hours were detected in Moscow - 5255 cases. St. Petersburg is on the second place (1093), on the third - the Moscow region (588). Over the past day, 570 thousand analyzes for the disease were carried out in Russia, for the entire time of the pandemic - more than 63 million studies.
