At the moment, many people are sick: cold viruses, flu viruses and also coronaviruses ensure high number of illnesses. Anyone who bought self-tests in stock during the Corona pandemic may now have some left. You can find out here whether and under what conditions you can still use the corona tests.
Current pathogens of respiratory diseases currently have an easy game. The spread of acute respiratory diseases in Germany is at an increasing level. The RKI speaks for last week of an estimated total number of around 7.9 million acute respiratory diseases in the
Population in Germany, regardless of visiting a doctor.
Not only flu and RSV viruses are currently active, Sars-Cov-2 viruses (Corona) continue to circulate among the population. Even if the disease has lost its horror, a test can make sense.
Corona test expired: can you still use it?
Anyone who still has corona self-tests at home wonders: How long are the quick tests actually durable? And can I still use an expired test? Does expired to unusable?
On the Corona fast tests you will usually find two information on their durability: on the one hand the date of production and on the other hand the expiry date (recognizable on the hourglass symbol). As a rule, there are twelve months between the manufacturing date and the expiry date. That means: from production, the tests are durable for a year.
Fast tests are of course no longer reliable and therefore unusable from the expiry of the expiry date. But: the longer the tests slumber in the closet, the greater the risk that they will no longer work properly and the tests display a wrong result.
A study on the Preprint server “Medrvix” shows that Corona antigen tests could be used for a few months after the expiry date. “The accuracy of the test examined remained unchanged four months after the expiry date, compared to the manufacturer’s positive controls,” explains the pharmaceutical newspaper (PZ). However, these results are not transferable to all tests: the study only examined a single test kit brand and did not yet receive a peer review.
Storage temperature is crucial for durability
The Bremen virologist Professor Andreas Dotzauer told the North Sea newspaper that the quick tests can still be used for a few weeks even after the expiry date-under certain conditions. The temperature in which the tests were stored is crucial: the warmer, the worse for durability. “If they were kept at room temperature, I would use them for two to three months beyond the expiry date,” said Dotzauer. “But not longer.”
Information on how the tests should be stored can be found on the packaging of the tests: usually they tolerate temperatures between five and 30 degrees. The small symbol, which shows long rays of the sun over a house, warns that the tests do not belong in direct sunlight. If the storage is incorrectly, it may no longer be reliable.
Safer: use new corona test
Even if a Corona test that has just expired does not have to be thrown away, it still makes sense to buy a new test from cold symptoms. Especially if you have contact with older and immunocompromised people, you should not take any risk.
Good to know: Doctors could continue to arrange for a PCR test for cash costs in the medical treatment of symptoms typical of Corona.
What to do with a positive quick test?
The RKI recommendations for respiratory infections are:
- Stay at home for 3 to 5 days and up to a significant improvement in the symptoms and avoid contacts.
- Contact with older people and people with previous illnesses should be avoided.
- If necessary, contact general practitioner practice.
With material of the dpa
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