FDA warns against using throat swabs for home Covid-19 tests

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The US Food and Drug Administration is cautioning against using self-collected throat swabs for Covid-19 tests and says people should use the tests as instructed.

"FACT: When it comes to at-home rapid antigen #COVID19 tests, those swabs are for your nose and not your throat," it said Friday on Twitter.

FACT: When it comes to at-home rapid antigen #COVID19 tests, those swabs are for your nose and not your throat. https://t.co/WpgTKrGV4q pic.twitter.com/eyZHADezYB — U.S. FDA January 7, 2022 Why the warning? After anecdotal reports of sore throats with coronavirus infection and early studies suggesting that saliva may be a better way to detect the Omicron variant, some people began taking antigen test swabs intended for nasal samples and using them to swab their throats. The home test tweak took after after people began posting their results on social media with the hashtag #SwabYourThroat.

But is it worth putting yourself through the gag-inducing experience of swabbing your tonsils?"Even if you think you're going to be more likely to detect virus that way, you don't know that," said Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center."The test won't perform better if you use it in a different way than its instructions say.

 

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everyone should be able to get a pack of anti gen tests, people of color and poor areas are most affected because they cannot afford it

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