In a new study, researchers found that a new viral screening test can not only diagnose COVID-19 in a matter of minutes with a portable, pocket-sized machine, but can also simultaneously test for other viruses—like influenza—that might be mistaken for the coronavirus.
At the same time, they can sequence the virus, providing valuable information on the spread of COVID-19 mutations and variants. The new test is called NIRVANA.
The research was conducted by a team at Salk Institute.
Testing the population is key to stopping the spread of COVID-19. In addition, tracking the spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants—some of which could respond differently to treatments or vaccines—is critical.
Today, the standard approach to determining whether a nasal swab is positive for COVID-19 is to run a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
If the sample is negative, however, patients and clinicians don’t get any information on what might be causing the coronavirus-like symptoms.
In the study, the team used a gene-detection approach called isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) coupled with real-time nanopore sequencing to build a faster, cheaper and more portable COVID-19 test.
They developed a small, portable device that can screen 96 samples at the same time using the RPA assay.
The scientists designed the test to simultaneously test samples for COVID-19, influenza A, human adenovirus, and non-SARS-CoV-2 human coronavirus.
In just 15 minutes, the researchers report, the device begins to report positive and negative results.
And within three hours, the device finalizes results on all 96 samples—including the sequences of five regions of SARS-CoV-2 that are particularly prone to accumulate mutations leading to new variants such as the B.1.1.7 variant identified in the UK.
The team also tested NIRVANA on 10 samples known to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, 60 samples of unknown SARS-CoV-2 status, as well as samples of municipal wastewater harboring the SARS-COV-2 virus and others.
In all cases, the assay was able to correctly identify which viruses were present.
With the small size and portability of the NIRVANA workflow, it could be used for fast virus detection at schools, airports or ports, the researchers say. It also could be used to monitor wastewater or streams for the presence of new viruses.
The study is published in Med. One author of the study is Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.
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