IN THE PRESS AND MAKING NEWS.
Real Word Performance of Lateral Flow Tests (aka rapid antigen)
Rapid antigen tests, although cheap and fast, have escaped much critical review until now. In the real world, antigen’s claim of 80% sensitivity is not what the experts see and at best, antigen tests are only 50% accurate. Sensitivity varies wildly among antigen brands from 38.32-99.19% sensitivity. The WHO recommends antigen tests should have a minimum of 80% sensitivity and 97% specificity yet we know that many are not even close. Why are they still being sold?