Our author had a Covid-19 infection. At first she thought of a harmless cold. No self-test worked for her. But the PCR test left no doubt that she was corona positive.
When my boyfriend complained of a sore throat on Sunday night, I thought he might have caught a cold. Monday morning I woke up with a scratchy throat, a heavy head and an earache. I thought a cold was more likely than a corona infection. The first rapid tests for at home led us to believe. But that’s not really meaningful. After all, experts have been preaching that a negative result is not a free ride for as long as there have been rapid tests. At most a snapshot that should be treated with caution, especially if you have symptoms of a cold.
When first our dance teacher, then a friend of my partner’s whom he had recently met at the cinema, wrote that they had a Covid-19 infection, my doubts about just having a cold grew. In addition, our Corona warning app glowed a wonderful red with nine risk encounters. I should be right about the suspicion of corona, but more on that later.
We diligently tested the symptoms from day one. Chopsticks in your nose, twist, sneeze and into the liquid. Drizzle onto the test cassette. Waiting. Even if the self-tests showed a negative result several times, we stayed at home in isolation. Because: better safe than sorry. And to be honest, even the spring-like temperatures and sunshine couldn’t lure me outside, with my head, neck, ear and body aches, I was just about able to binge on Netflix and RTL+ series.
Nasal and throat swab at home
After a conversation with my family doctor, my friend and I also used the test sticks for a throat test because the omicron variant can be recognized better there. For the throat swab, the swab must be on the back of the throat. The best way to do the test is in the bathroom in front of the mirror. With the mouth open and the tongue lowered, the uvula can be seen on the palate, behind which saliva should be taken with the swab at various points on the back of the throat.
Caution: The throat swab is no fun and made me choke and cough. And my friend had the painful experience that the chopstick shouldn’t be inserted too far down his throat, because breakfast came back to him promptly. For an optimal test result, samples should be taken from the nose with the same swab after the throat swab. A Nasal and Throat Swab so. Self-tests could also be used for the throat swab, which, according to the manufacturer, are actually only intended for a nasal swab, says Christine Falk, President of the German Society for Immunology and professor at the Hannover Medical School, compared to “Zeit”.
Why rapid tests stayed negative for me
But despite severe cold symptoms, the six rapid antigen tests I did in four days remained negative. There can be several reasons for this:
Low viral load: My viral load wasn’t high enough to trigger any of the tests. Because: As early as 2021, researchers showed in a study that was published in the specialist magazine “The BMJ” that a rapid test usually only works a few days after the infection. Normally, the viral load is high, especially at the beginning of the symptomatic phase. But the infection does not have to be the same for every person. In a very small study, researchers from New York found that the vaccinated and partially boosted subjects with a high viral load had already had a positive PCR test result for two days. The rapid test, however, did not work.
Human error: Maybe I just didn’t use the tests correctly. However, I don’t think I did the tests worse than other self-testers. In the meantime, unfortunately, we all have routine in it.
Poor quality of tests: Maybe the self-tests were just lousy. An expert from Stiftung Warentest interviewed the star, warned that not all tests that consumers receive in drugstores and the like are of sufficient quality. I faced another problem. After our last self-tests were used up, I could hardly go to the pharmacy or the supermarket myself and choose a test that the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) classified as reliable. I had to resort to the tests that I could have contactless delivered to my apartment door in the “Gorillas” app.
In the List of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices I found out by searching for the manufacturer’s name that the tests I used from the companies “Hotgen” and “Safecare Biotech” meet the necessary standards of the PEI and can also detect the omicron variant. Another argument against poor test quality is that my friend’s fourth rapid test (three days after the onset of symptoms) was positive and he used the tests from the same manufacturer.
Influence of the Corona vaccination: I briefly wondered whether the vaccination status could have an impact on the test result of the rapid antigen test. I quickly dismissed the thought: virologist Christian Drosten already said in the “Coronavirus Update” podcast that “rapid antigen tests are slightly less sensitive to vaccinated people.” But the effects are negligible, explains the virologist. Also, my friend and I have the same vaccination status, namely boosted, and he had a rapid test positive.
PCR test: Corona positive
I would have preferred it if I could have had a PCR test carried out directly, after all, these are the gold standard of corona tests. But just going around the corner to a test center is not possible with symptoms. Instead, those affected can contact the medical on-call service at 116 117 or contact your doctor’s office. I contacted my GP practice. It offers PCR tests, but if possible you should first have a positive rapid test, it said from practice. So I waited. After my friend’s positive PCR test, I also had a PCR test done on the fifth day of my symptoms. As expected: positive.
After two weeks with a fever, headache, chills, a sore throat, an earache, a headache, a runny nose and a cough, I’m not only happy that I only had a mild course. By the way, so does my friend. But also enriched by the personal realization of how important it is not to give too much weight to a negative self-test. The following applies: If you have symptoms, it is better to assume that you are positive and act accordingly, even if the rapid test is negative. In my case, I would have otherwise assumed I had a cold for five days, if I had not isolated myself and ended up unknowingly infecting someone with Covid-19 when going to the pharmacy or in the waiting room of the family doctor’s practice.
Swell: BMJ, Coronavirus update, Time, Preprint on medrxiv, List of the BfArM