COVID Diagnosis with PCR | Misinterpreting results

by Anthony Kuster

COVID diagnosis with PCR may be resulting in wrong diagnoses, unnecessary scares about #reinfection, and wasted resources. This video explains why RT-PCR tests, which are the gold standard for diagnostic testing, may be hindering our fight against COVID-19; how, after seven months, we still aren’t doing testing right; and what experts believe needs to change. Most importantly, we explore the role of the cycle threshold in all of this.

Check out what a “Ct” is and why experts are calling for greater reporting of the Ct in results and changes to its threshold in laboratory protocols. By popular demand (even though it is not the subject of this video), I have been asked to provide links to studies in which SARS-CoV-2 was isolated in cell culture, visualized by electron microscopy, reacted with antibodies, genetically sequenced, and demonstrated to fulfill Koch’s postulates. Those links are at the very bottom.

Duration of infectiousness and correlation with RT-PCR cycle threshold values in cases of COVID-19, England, January to May 2020 | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

63 days detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from a recovered patient in Southern Italy: A Case Report | http://www.seu-roma.it/riviste/annali…

Absent immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in a 3-month recurrence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

SARS-CoV-2 RNA Persistence in Naso-Pharyngeal Swabs | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

Long-Haulers Are Redefining COVID-19 | https://www.theatlantic.com/health/ar…

COVID-19 re-infection by a phylogenetically distinct SARS-coronavirus-2 strain confirmed by whole genome sequencing | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

To Interpret the SARS-CoV-2 Test, Consider the Cycle Threshold Value | https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-…

Your Coronavirus Test Is Positive. Maybe It Shouldn’t Be. | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/he…

Testing Dilemmas: Post negative, positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR – is it a reinfection? | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

Challenges and Controversies to Testing for COVID-19 | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

‘It’s Kitchen Sink Time’: Fast, Less-Accurate Coronavirus Tests May Be Good Enough | https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/he…

By popular demand, isolation and purification of SARS-CoV-2 and fulfillment of Koch’s postulates (keep in mind, though, that Koch made his postulates to describe cholera and TB and was written in the 1800s before viruses were discovered):

What does it mean to isolate and purify a virus?http://eacharya.inflibnet.ac.in/data-…

A virologist’s summary and review of relevant literature:https://virologydownunder.com/sigh-ye…

The pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 in hACE2 transgenic mice (fulfillment of Koch’s postulates)https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…

Isolation, Sequence, Infectivity, and Replication Kinetics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2| https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/…

Virus Isolation from the First Patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Korea | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

Isolation and characterization of SARS-CoV-2 from the first US COVID-19 patient | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosed only by cell culture isolation before the local outbreak in an Italian seven-week-old suckling baby | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science…

Isolation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 from urine of a COVID-19 patient | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/…