CHINESE EXPERTS CALL ANAL SWAB TEST MORE EFFECTIVE WAY TO DETECT COVID-19

Chinese doctors began to take anal swabs for coronavirus, saying that the method is much more accurate than the throat method. It is noted that this helps to shorten the time of establishing diagnosis.

Li Tongzeng, deputy engraver of the Infectious Diseases Department of Beijing Yuyuan Hospital, spoke to the media. He stated that standard throat and nasal covid testing method was not very good at detecting asymptomatic disease.

An anal smear shows even those cases when the patient has recently had a coronavirus.

This is due to the fact that covid remains for a rather long time in the rectum and feces - longer than in the respiratory tract. However, the expert added that a rectal swab was not so convenient to do, and therefore it was used only in some quarantine points.

Chinese doctors said the method would not be used as extensively as a throat or nasal swab. In addition, the patients themselves are not happy with the procedure - in local social networks, Chinese residents complain about the humiliation of the method.

It is necessary to note that mass testing for coronavirus is now being carried out in the north of China - a few weeks ago, small focal points of infection were detected there. As a result, several cities were quarantined, and residents began to be tested for the presence of the disease.