First, let’s discover what is antigen? he human immune system, and in fact the immune systems of most vertebrates, work on a simple idea: Any protein in your body that isn’t encoded by your own genes is probably from a pathogen and should be captured and destroyed. When the immune system detects a foreign protein, your white blood cells, specifically your B-cells, create antibodies to trap and destroy these proteins. Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that use their arms as grabbers for foreign proteins.

The first round of antibodies isn’t particularly well matched to the shape of a new invading protein, but every time white blood cells make new antibodies, they tweak the shape of the antibody grabber until it fits the protein very well. The foreign protein that triggers this process is referred to as an “anti–gen” because it is an antibody generator.

After you know what is antigen, now we are going to explain to you how does an antigen test work. Antigen tests are well named: They look for antigens. To identify these antigens, antigen tests use antibodies. You may have performed one yourself if you’ve ever used a home pregnancy test, which uses tests for an antigen called human chorionic gonadotropin in urine that is produced by the cells that surround a fetus when a woman becomes pregnant.

Like the test that diagnoses influenza, the SARS–CoV–2 antigen test uses antibodies that are produced in animals to hunt for proteins embedded in the coronavirus’s surface. If the antibodies detect viral proteins in a sample, the person most likely has the coronavirus.

An antigen test for SARS-CoV-2 starts with a medical professional collecting a sample of mucus from the back of a persons throat or nose using a swab. They then dip the swab into a liquid to dissolve the mucus and release the virus. The liquid is then applied to the surface of the test slide that is coated with antibodies. These antibodies are stuck to the slide and “grab onto” any coronavirus proteins that are in the sample. A second mixture of antibodies is then applied to the slide. These antibodies have been chemically modified with a dye that makes them visible to the naked eye or detectable by fluorescent light.

If the sample contains viral antigen proteins, those antigens are now sandwiched by two antibodies: one that attaches them to the test kit and another that makes them visible. The more coronavirus antigen there is, the more dye will be visible, indicating that the patient is infected with SARS-CoV-2. If there is no detectable dye, this would mean the person does not have SARS-CoV-2 or that the sample did not have enough viral proteins.

Now let’s jump in to the strength side of this test. The main selling points of antigen tests are that they are far faster and easier to perform than reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. PCR tests – the swab tests that look for viral RNA – are currently the most common way to test for an active SARS-CoV-2 infection and can take up to four days to perform. By contrast, the most time-consuming part of the antigen test process is waiting for the antibody mixtures and the sample to mix completely.

This process takes mere minutes, given the small volumes typically used in an antigen test. A COVID-19 antigen test might take only 15-30 minutes to complete and requires very little expertise. Similar tests are done routinely in clinics for influenza all the time. In contrast, PCR tests swabs must be sent to diagnostic laboratories to be performed by experienced technicians as of right now.

We know the strength, why not spend some time talking on the weakness right? In case you need another consideration before taking the test. What antigen tests gain in speed and ease of use, they lose in accuracy.

Because they look directly for evidence of the virus, there need to be a lot virus proteins available to stick to the antibodies to produce a detectable result. Depending on the virus, qualitative antigen tests likely need a sample to contain many thousands of viral proteins in order to produce a positive test. If a sample doesn’t have enough virus or a person has a low-grade infection, the test might give a false negative result – and a sick person would get told they are uninfected.

The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to a SARS–CoV–2 antigen test made by the pharmaceutical company Quidel Corporation. Quidel reports that their antigen test produces about a 20% false negative rate. That means that 1 in 5 people who actually are infected will receive a result saying they are not. At a large scale, this may result in missing many infected individuals.

You already get the basic things you need for the test, now you going to take the test, the question that comes up might be Where I can take the antigen swab test? If you are currently in Bali, you can go in to Hydro Medical Bali to take the test. They will offer you a special package for testing the Rapid test of COVID-19. They will cost you around IDR 480K and you will get the consultant with doctor, the test and also the universal precaution for the medical staff.

So you don’t need to pay another fee for the universal precaution. Also, they already in contact with some of big hospitals in Bali, so when you need more action after the Antigen swab Test, they are always ready to assist you and make sure you will get the best treatment under their care. Hydro Medical Clinic also have trained staff for this test, so you don’t need to worry about anything rather than your own healthiness.

If you are interested in taking the Rapid Test on Hydro Medical Clinic Bali you have to make an appointment first through Hydro Medical Bali’s customer care. After you make an appointment, the day you come in to the clinic you have to wear the mask (this is necessary unless they can’t accept you).

After you are arriving at the clinic you have to fulfill the questionnaire that Hydro Medical Bali already prepared for you. After you answering the questionnaire the doctor will check your recent health condition. After the doctor approved that you need to be checked, then the doctor will check you.

The checked are the same like you are checking the blood sugar. After the checking end, you need to wait for around 15 minutes, after the result come out the doctor will give you a suggestion based on the result of the antigen swab test.

After you get the result, If the result appears to be positive but you are in healthy condition you still need to do the self-quarantine for 7-10 days and repeat the same mention as describe above. In the plus side, Hydro medical is already making an agreement with tiket.com, so you can access all the things you need (from the explanation until the location of the test) in just one website. No worries, we always keep everything safe for you. During this pandemic, we always hope you to keep doing the health protocols and be safe.