Old coronavirus – with Omicron-like symptoms

A variant of the coronavirus with normal, long-presenting cold-like symptoms was detected in the laboratory of Avidin Ltd. in Szeged. A middle-aged man had typical Omicron-like symptoms consisting of runny nose, headache, and fatigue for several days, However, both antigen tests and PCR tests for Covid were negative, which also ruled out influenza. The cause behind his symptoms was to be determined.

“We used a special technique, the complete sequencing to find a coronavirus. It was not Covid, but a strain which belongs to the alpha family, the so-called 229E, which is responsible for the common cold,” says László Puskás, CEO of Avidin.

Genetic sequencing is a costly and lengthy test, so Avidin has now developed a PCR test for traditional coronaviruses that is much faster and cheaper. In connection with this case, the effectiveness of several Covid antigen rapid tests generally used by primary care physicians and in the Whitelab network were also tested and all 5 showed negative results. Noneless, it is conceivable that there are antigen tests that would have shown a false positive and assumed a person to have Covid. Accurate testing is very important to avoid that patient with Omicron-like symptoms to be quarantined while not having Covid at all.

Avidin has already developed a specific PCR test that detects Omicron.  As with all other PCR-based tests we provide, the Omicron test is fast and reliable.