Less invasive and faster, a device developed by researchers at the American Chemical Society has been shown to be able to detect the covid-19 virus in a saliva analysis process that can be done at home with the same quality as the “gold standard” test. ” RT-PCR — and without the hassle of swabbing the nostril.Called Slide, the device, which looks like a rectangular jewelry box, has five distinct modules that perform an isothermal amplification method called RT-LAMP, capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA at a similar level of specificity and sensitivity. to RT-PCR.It works like this: the person who suspects being infected with the virus spits into a vial attached to a kind of cartridge, which is inserted into the device.From there, the device heats the sample, mixes the material with reagents (RT-LAMP), performs the reaction, detects the amount of viral RNA present and communicates the result to a smartphone.The process takes an average of 45 minutes, a period much shorter than that of RT-PCR.However, it is 30 minutes longer than the home antigen test.The difference is quality, as the antigen test has 30% to 40% lower sensitivity than the RT-PCR test — which can cause false-negative results.To test the Slide device, analyzes were carried out with the saliva of a person with the virus and another without covid-19.The device reported the correct results for each case and the results were checked in the laboratory.“With clinical samples, our platform showed good agreement with the results of the gold standard RT-PCR method.These results show that our platform can perform lay-handled COVID nucleic acid testing with non-invasive saliva samples,” the researchers wrote in the study report.“We believe that our self-testing platform will have an ongoing benefit for the control of Covid-19 and the fight against future pandemics”, they add.Learn More Politics Janones withdraws candidacy and will support Lula for Presidency Political Death threats: Tabata defends Sâmia Bomfim, Manuela and Duda Salabert Politics Bolsonaro talks about being 'threatened with jail when he leaves the government' Brazil Doctor expels nursing and medicine students from UPA in MinasEnter your email address to follow the daily news from Correio Braziliense.