PCR Test for COVID
Contents
[hide]General
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764238
Low Cost Test
- Low Cost and Safe COVID Detection
- $15 and 4 hours - [$15 (without taking an account of labor cost) per testing, while the total duration of the protocol was found to be approximately 4 hours. ]
Sourcing
- SYBR Green (as in article above) Master Mix is $3/test - https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/4344463#/4344463
- TRIzol RNA prep kit - [1]
- Probes and primers are 23 cents each - source - [2]
Other Generic
- PCR master mix - dNTPs, enzymes included - https://www.promega.com/-/media/files/resources/protocols/product-information-sheets/g/pcr-master-mix-protocol.pdf?la=en.
- Cost for Master Mix is 40 cents - [3]
What Gives?
- The antibody test, a rapid diagnostic developed by Abbott Laboratories that requires a simple, single finger prick, takes five minutes to complete and cost Egyptians a mere 50¢. Genome tests developed by Roche, which were administered to nearly four million, cost no more than $5 each. That’s a sharp contrast to what people are charging today to test for COVID-19—in some cases $10 to $20 for a serology test, and more than $100 for a genome test. - [4]
- Roche test - [5]
Difficulties
- Controls - positive control of covid sequence
- verification of RNA extraction to prevent false negative
- primer verification to prevent false positives
