Diagnosis of Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection by Detection of Nucleocapsid Protein

Bo Diao; Kun Wen; Jian Chen; Yueping Liu; Zilin Yuan; Chao Han; Jiahui Chen; Yuxian Pan; Li Chen; Yunjie Dan; Jing Wang; Yongwen Chen; Guohong Deng; Hongwei Zhou; Yuzhang Wu

Theoretically, viral antigen is the specific marker of the virus and precedes antibody appearance within the infected people. In our previous study in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), test of the N antigen of SARS-CoV achieved a sensitivity of 94% and 78% for the first 5 days and 6-10 days after onset, respectively. This pointed out that antigen detection has a high true positive rate and false negative rate, which can be used as an early diagnostic marker for SARS before 1 day clinical onset [11] . Other authors also indicate N antigen of SARS-CoV has a high sensitivity rate in early stage of SARS, which could be useful for early diagnosis of SARS [14] , indicate antigen detection can play an important role in the early diagnosis. Therefore, detection of viral antigen can play a rapid screening effect and achieve the purpose of early diagnosis.