SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Screening and its Clinical Characterization in Suspected Patients at Tertiary Care Hospital of Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating around the world after first case identification in China.Many of the therapeutic options are being studied globally and recently, many countries have been vaccinating their people. However, its efficacy is under study and yet to be clearly defined. In this circumstance, reliable and faster diagnostic testing is critical for limiting the spread of the virus. This study is an attempt to identify SARS-CoV-2 by an antigen screening test, its effectiveness and clinical correlation in COVID cases. Methods: This is laboratory based cross sectional study was performed in Manmohan Memorial Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu from November 2020 to January 2021. A total of 150 patients were screened for SARS-CoV-2 antigen in the nasopharyngeal swab. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect information on clinico-demographic profiles and illness history of patients. Antigen screening was performed using lateral flow immunoassay. Data were analyzed according to standard statistical method using SPSS version 20. Results: Among 150 participants, 11(7.3%) were SARS-CoV-2 antigen positive. Significant group differences between positive and negative were observed for age (p= 0.002), presence of symptoms (p<0.001), duration of symptom onset (p<0.001), presence of underlying illness (p=0.001) and contact history with COVID-19 infected case (p<0.001) but not for gender (p=1.00). Conclusion: Adults, elderly and the individuals having close contact with COVID-19 infected patient were at high risk of acquiring infection. Majority of the infected patients presented the symptoms and had underlying disease suggesting, underlying illness could be the risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection.