Heidelberg (dpa / lsw) – Students at Heidelberg University can test themselves for Corona with a gurgle test before taking part in laboratory internships or face-to-face exams. In addition to hygiene concepts and distance regulations, the free test is intended to help minimize a possible risk of spread, for example on the way to the test. Teachers can order the test kits for their students. They can register using codes and call up the result after eight hours.
The method is almost as sensitive as the PCR tests, but less complex in terms of technical equipment, explains Michael Knop, head of the project at the Center for Molecular Biology at Heidelberg University. Its results are much more reliable than those of commercial rapid antigen tests.
The users of the test receive a vial, gargle at home with the saline liquid contained in it and fill a tube with a tiny sample of the mucus that has been dissolved in the throat. The nucleic acids it contains are isolated and purified in the laboratory. If they multiply under the influence of heat, there is an infection.
The test can identify infections just two to three days after infection. In addition, the virus can still be detected some time after infection, so that chains of infection can also be tracked efficiently in this way. The aim is to interrupt this early. According to researcher Knop, there is currently one positive for every 1,000 tests.
University employees are also allowed to use the tests. The process is approved for research purposes, but not yet certified and therefore not commercially available.
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