How to ab(use) a COVID-19 antigen rapid test with soft drinks?

Velavan, Thirumalaisamy; Pallerla, Srinivas; Kremsner, Peter

The speed and convenience of a COVID-19 antigen test, with reasonably good specificity and sensitivity, has led to self-testing in schools, offices, and universities in the European Union (EU). Although self-testing can be beneficial and increase the accessibility to testing, there are potential ways to confound a positive COVID-19 lateral flow test. We observed that all soft drinks, energy drink, alcoholic beverages (vodka, whiskey and brandy), commercially bottled mineral water and carbonated mineral water caused the appearance of a red test line. However, when equal volumes of the buffer and the respective beverages are mixed, there are no false positive test lines. Deceitful methods may easily lead to misuse of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests and result in false positive results, however, do not prove that these tests are unreliable, when performed correctly.