Testing and isolation remain a key component of public health responses to both persistent and emerging infectious diseases.Although the value of these measures have been demonstrated in combating recent outbreaks inc...Testing and isolation remain a key component of public health responses to both persistent and emerging infectious diseases.Although the value of these measures have been demonstrated in combating recent outbreaks including the COVID-19 pandemic and monkeypox,their impact depends critically on the timelines of testing and start of isolation during the course of disease.To investigate this impact,we developed a delay differential model and incorporated age-since-symptom-onset as a parameter for delay in testing.We then used the model to compare the outcomes of reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and rapid antigen(RA)testing methods when isolation starts either at the time of testing or at the time of test result.Parameterizing the model with estimates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and diagnostic sensitivity of the tests,we found that the reduction of disease transmission using the RA test can be comparable to that achieved by applying the RT-PCR test.Given constraints and inevitable delays associated with sample collection and laboratory assays in RT-PCR testing post symptom onset,self-administered RA tests with short turnaround times present a viable alternative for timely isolation of infectious cases.展开更多
基金support from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada(NSERC)through Individual Discovery Grant,and EIDM Mathematics for Public Health(MfPH)grant.
文摘Testing and isolation remain a key component of public health responses to both persistent and emerging infectious diseases.Although the value of these measures have been demonstrated in combating recent outbreaks including the COVID-19 pandemic and monkeypox,their impact depends critically on the timelines of testing and start of isolation during the course of disease.To investigate this impact,we developed a delay differential model and incorporated age-since-symptom-onset as a parameter for delay in testing.We then used the model to compare the outcomes of reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and rapid antigen(RA)testing methods when isolation starts either at the time of testing or at the time of test result.Parameterizing the model with estimates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and diagnostic sensitivity of the tests,we found that the reduction of disease transmission using the RA test can be comparable to that achieved by applying the RT-PCR test.Given constraints and inevitable delays associated with sample collection and laboratory assays in RT-PCR testing post symptom onset,self-administered RA tests with short turnaround times present a viable alternative for timely isolation of infectious cases.
