Laboratory Performance and Clinical Correlation of Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction as a Diagnostic Test for Isolated from Patients in Oman.

Objectives: To evaluate real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a diagnostic tool for pertussis (whooping cough), vis-à-vis culture, the long-time gold standard, with emphasis on the importance of clinical correlation in determining specificity.

Methods: Nasopharyngeal/throat swab samples in charcoal media received from all over Oman at Central Public Health Laboratories from January 2014 to December 2016 were included in this study. These samples were tested using both culture and real-time PCR.

Evaluation of Four Rapid Antigen Tests for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Objectives: Considering the increasing, significant burden that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) imposes on the healthcare system, the need for simple, rapid, and affordable diagnostic tests to support the existing costly and demanding polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay becomes required. This prospective diagnostic test accuracy study aims to evaluate the performance of four different COVID-19 rapid antigen tests compared to real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) between June and July 2020 to determine the feasibility of integrating these tests into the diagnostic algorithm in clinical settings.

Methods: Swabs were collected from 306 patients and analyzed using rRT-PCR and antigen tests from four different providers.