Identify positive and negative controls when testing Covid at home

Currently, people are used to self-collecting Covid-19 test samples at home with a rapid test kit. But there are many people who do not know that they have accidentally used the “positive control stick” in the product box, leading to inaccurate results. So what is “positive test rod”, let’s find out with Tnhelearning.edu.vn through the article below!

What is positive control and negative control?

According to Assoc. Prof. Do Van Dung – Dean of the Faculty of Public Health, former Vice President of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Ho Chi Minh City also answered:

” A positive control strip is a cotton swab containing antigens , if the test is positive and the result is negative, the test kit is wrong. A negative control strip is a cotton swab that is completely antigenic , if tested on the test kit, it must have If the result is negative, if the result is positive again, the test kit is wrong.”

Accordingly, the positive and negative control strips contained in the test kit boxes are not used to collect the throat fluid to test for Covid-19 but only to check the product quality and see if the product is working properly.

Some types of COVID-19 rapid test kits when packaged will have two sample test strips

According to information from Tuoi Tre newspaper, in some types of rapid test kits currently on the market , there are 2 types of sample sticks in the box, used to check product quality .

But many people do not know, mistakenly used one of these two types of sample sticks, leading to incorrect test results.

Explaining this, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Phuong (from the Medical Station of Ward 4, District 3) said:

“In some types of COVID-19 rapid test kits when packaged, there will be two sample test strips, one is a positive control , which will give a positive result even if no sample is taken or any test solution is taken. it still shows two bars, and the negative control stick , the principle of operation will be opposite ”.

Reference : How to take a quick Covid test sample with standard saliva at home

How to distinguish positive control and negative control in the Covid-19 test product box

Some Covid-19 quick test kit boxes will come with 1 positive control and 1 negative control, to distinguish these two samples, please look at the packaging:

• Positive control strip : has the words Positive Control Swab
• Negative control strip : has the words Negative Control Swab

The positive control strip will have the words Positive Control Swab, the negative control will have the words Negative Control Swab

Note: only some test kits come with these two sample strips in the product box, the rest do not .

Some types of rapid test kits have positive and negative controls such as: Flowflex SARS CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test of China, CareStart COVID-19 Antigen of the US, Panbio COVID-19 Ag Rapid Test Device of Korea…

Therefore, when buying a quick test kit for self-testing at home , everyone should observe carefully and use the right test kit to give the most accurate results.

Reference : How to recognize false positives when self-testing for Covid-19 at home

Things to know when buying a Covid quick test kit at home

Besides, when self-testing quickly for Covid-19 at home, people should pay attention to:

• Buy products at reputable pharmacies or medical facilities to ensure quality.
• Avoid buying floating test kits, of unknown origin to avoid counterfeit goods, leading to incorrect results, which will be very dangerous.
• Carefully read the instructions for use on the product packaging or seek medical advice and support .

Things to know when buying a Covid quick test kit at home

Reference : How to use a simple Covid-19 quick test kit at home

Below is a list of 16 rapid test kits for SARS-CoV-2 antigens certified by the Ministry of Health :

Above is information about positive and negative control strips included in the Covid-19 rapid test kit box that Tnhelearning.edu.vn synthesized. Hope this article has provided you with useful information. And please pay attention to this issue when buying a quick test kit to test yourself at home!

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