Since recently, the new crown nucleic acid rapid test to add anal swab sampling news has caused widespread debate. Why the new crown nucleic acid rapid test to add anal swab, and how to operate the anal swab sampling?

According to expert research, the addition of anal swabs to the New Coronavirus rapid test can improve the detection rate of New Coronavirus-infected patients to some extent, and even the time of positive anal swabs can precede nasopharyngeal swabs. In last year's rapid nucleic acid test, there were cases in which the nasopharyngeal swab turned negative but the anal swab continued to be positive.

This is because, for some asymptomatic or mildly infected patients, recovery from infection is relatively rapid and may not be detected positive for pharyngeal nucleic acid for 3 to 5 days. The duration of positive fecal or anal swab nucleic acid in some infected patients is longer than the duration of the upper respiratory tract; therefore, increasing the rapid anal swab nucleic acid test can improve the detection rate of infected patients and reduce the number of missed diagnoses.

When it comes to anal swab testing, everyone smiles shyly. In the anal swab sampling process, the testing personnel will use a swab like swab moistened in physiological saline and inserted 2-3 cm into the anus, usually swabbed from the crease around the anus or gently rotated and coated inside the anal opening, and then inserted into a test tube containing physiological saline.

Some people who underwent the test commented that the test was not painful, but slightly shameful. However, although the anal swab test is not convenient and a little embarrassing, the "nostril" nasal swab test is equally uncomfortable and less accurate than the former.

Considering that anal swabs are not as convenient as nasopharyngeal swabs, and that only anal swabs are currently conducted for key populations such as isolation sites, and not for national expansion, nasopharyngeal swabs are still the most common method for rapid testing of new coronary nucleic acids.