A reaction to “Your Medical Corner” column on RT-PCR
I agree that the RT-PCR test is A good tool to help us in the global fight against Covid-19. It is considered as a “gold standard” when it comes to testing for the virus. A lot of countries rely on the RT-PCR – sometimes a bit too much.
To start with, the RT-PCR test is a qualitative test, not a quantitative test. It cannot tell the viral load of a subject, which is massively important in determining a virus’ infectiousness. Some people get extremely sick because the virus has managed to replicate itself already while some people do not get sick because they have a strong immune system. However, in a PCR test, both will test positive.
The PCR test also cannot tell if the virus it had found in the subject is still “alive” (intact and whole – infectious) or “dead” (just a fragment of the virus, not infectious). A virus can be fragmented if a person’s own immune system had already destroyed it. These “dead” viruses are actually what the legacy vaccines are made of and these “dead” viruses can stay in the body for months after initial infection. You could have been infected three months ago as an asymptomatic subject but still test positive today.
I leave you with a quote from Kary B. Mullis, creator of the PCR test and Nobel Prize winner, when they were using RT-PCR to diagnose AIDS:
“PCR is intended to identify substances qualitatively, but by its very nature is unsuited for estimating numbers. Although there is a common misimpression that the viral load tests actually count the number of viruses in the blood, these tests cannot detect free, infectious viruses at all; they can only detect proteins that are believed, in some cases wrongly, to be unique to HIV. The tests can detect genetic sequences of the viruses, but not the viruses themselves.
You can just swap out HIV for Covid-19 for this to be relevant today. — HONORARY PROF. CHATNOIR, Baguio City