In what could be a significant breakthrough, project coordinators hope the blood-based test will be able to detect the virus\u2019s presence as early as 24 hours after infection \u2013 before people show symptoms and several days before a carrier is considered capable of spreading it to other people. That is also around four days before current tests can detect the virus.<\/p>\n
The test has emerged from a project set up by the US military\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) aimed at rapid diagnosis of germ or chemical warfare poisoning. It was hurriedly repurposed when the pandemic broke out and the new test is expected to be put forward for emergency use approval (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concept fills a diagnostic gap worldwide,\u201d the head of Darpa\u2019s biological technologies office, Dr Brad Ringeisen, told the Guardian, since it should also fill in testing gaps at later stages of the infection. If given FDA approval, he said, it had the potential to be \u201cabsolutely a gamechanger\u201d.<\/p>\n
While pre-infectious detection would improve the efficiency of test-and-trace programmes as governments worldwide relax lockdowns, Darpa cautioned that it must wait until after FDA approval is given and the test can be put into practise for evidence of exactly how early it can pick up the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal of research is to develop and validate an early host blood response diagnostic test for Covid,\u201d Prof Stuart Sealfon, who leads the research team at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, said in an email.<\/p>\n
He said the testing approach, which looks at the body\u2019s response as it fights Covid-19, should produce earlier results than current nose-swab tests that hunt for the virus itself. \u201cBecause the immune response to infection develops immediately after infection, a Covid signature is expected to provide more sensitive Covid infection diagnosis earlier,\u201d he told the Guardian.<\/p>\n
The research behind the development of the tests will eventually be made public, with the collaborating teams from medical schools at Mount Sinai, Duke University and Princeton expected to publish online, allowing scientists around the world to trial similar methods.<\/p>\n
If EUA is granted, the test should start being rolled out in the US in the second half of May. Approval is not guaranteed, but Darpa scientists are enthusiastic about the potential impact as governments loosen lockdowns amid worries about controlling potential second-wave outbreaks.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are all extremely excited. We want to roll this test out as quickly as we can, but at the same time share with others who might want to implement in their own countries,\u201d said Dr Eric Van Gieson, who set up Darpa\u2019s epigenetic characterization and observation (Echo) programme last year to diagnose biological warfare victims, and has redirected it to focus on Covid-19. Epigenetics looks at a set of controls on genes that can respond to the environment.<\/p>\n
Hope that the test might pick up carriers before they become infectious is based on previous research into other viruses, though Sealfon said this remained \u201cunknown\u201d for Covid-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have evidence that diagnosis happens in the first 24 hours for influenza and an adenovirus,\u201d Van Gieson said. \u201cWe are still in the midst of proving that with Covid-19. That said, we should know very soon after EUA.\u201d He sees potential for the US to carry out up to a million tests a day, starting with 100,000 daily in May.<\/p>\n
The test would up the possibility of isolating pre-infectious cases and closing down transmission chains. It could also dramatically reduce quarantine periods for people exposed to Covid-19 spreaders, allowing them to go back to work within days. \u201cIt could have exceptional demand,\u201d said Chris Linthwaite, the chief executive of Fluidigm, a California life-sciences technology company that is part of the project, who believes frequent testing can help manage workforces as they return to offices, warehouses and factories.<\/p>\n
The UK government announced plans two weeks ago to restart a contact-tracing programme that was abandoned early in the outbreak. Britain\u2019s stated target was 100,000 <\/a>tests a day<\/a> by the end of April. France announced on Tuesday that it would test 700,000 people a week, including those without symptoms.<\/p>\n Other countries such as South Korea, Australia and New Zealand already have efficient tracing systems, but they would be boosted if carriers could be detected early.<\/p>\n