UDINE. The Ministry of Health has authorized the use of the molecular salivary swab, but in Friuli this green light is not decisive for the replacement of the nasopharyngeal test with the salivary test patented by Biofarma.
Soon the Central Friuli University Health Authority will use the molecular salivary swab born from the collaboration with the Biofarma of Germano Scarpa, of Mereto di Tomba.
The test created in Friuli in the first phase of the pandemic goes beyond that envisaged by the circular: it is based on the use of a reagent liquid that allows saliva to be preserved.
It is a product on which the Region counts a lot: “We want to contain the pandemic with this type of product,” assures the deputy governor with responsibility for Health, Riccardo Riccardi.
The commissioner believes in innovation and it is no coincidence that he reported the new test to commissioner Francesco Paolo Figliuolo.
The expert
The molecular salivary test was developed in collaboration with the analysis laboratory of the Central Friuli University Healthcare Company, directed by Professor Francesco Curcio, professor of Clinical Pathology at the University of Udine.
«For this type of product – explains Curcio – the ministerial circular would not serve. It is okay that there is even if it is not decisive for unblocking the situation.
And it is Curcio who confirms that Asufc is finalizing the administrative procedures to start using it.
«It was a long process – he continues -, the hospital had to understand the positioning of the product well to decide on which path to use it.
And in any case, the Prevention Department will indicate for which category to use it ».
According to Curcio, it is quite likely that the company will use it to monitor the contagion among fragile subjects, children, students and people subjected to constant screening.
Scarpa, the president of the Biofarma group, is also waiting to hear details: the company can already produce 120,000 test tubes per week.
The patent
The new test is more precise than the traditional molecular swab, allowing you to no longer use a specialized nurse to collect the sample that can be recovered by the person concerned, by sliding a few drops of saliva into the test tube with the reagent produced by Biofarma.
The same tube must arrive in the laboratory within 48 hours of collection.
As a result of the reagent, when saliva is analyzed it is no longer contagious and therefore the risk of contagion is reduced.
What makes the difference between the salivary swab provided by the circular according to which “the saliva sample can be considered an option for the detection of Sars-CoV2 infection if it is not possible to obtain gold / nasopharyngeal swabs” is the reagent that allows to conserve saliva.
The test is processed in the same way as the traditional molecular following the timing. –