Task Force Justifies Use of PCR in Detecting Covid-19
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3 February 2022 08:35 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Spokesperson for the Covid-19 task force Wiku Adisasmito on Wednesday asserts that the polymerase chain reaction or PCR method remains to be one of the most effective and capable coronavirus detection techniques available in the market.
He noted that both the World Health Organization and U.S. CDC have confirmed the technique’s reliability which is able to detect the presence and fragments of the coronavirus.
“It is still able to detect the Covid-19 virus whatever the variant, including Indonesia,” said Adisasmito on February 2.
He emphasized this because of the way the technique works to detect the genetic material of the virus, which is by matching the PCR target gene against the viral genetic code. Although this code is easy to change due to mutations, he says.
"An example of a virus' genetic code that changes easily is Gen S, which is the agent of the virus. Meanwhile, genes that tend to remain constant, for example, are Genes E and N," he explained.
PCR consists of one or more target genes, according to him, however, since the beginning of the pandemic, WHO has not recommended PCR with a single target gene, which only targets the S Gen as due to its easily changeable nature.
After all, he said, Omicron is one of the variants with very large changes in the S gene. Thus, with the current PCR, the S gene in the Omicron variant could not be detected.
Therefore, Wiku emphasized, when PCR is used with more than one target gene, one of which is Gen S, the result that appears is that the S gene is not detected, while other genes are still detected.
"Such results are called S Gene Target Failure or SGTF. However, PCR cannot recognize the entire genetic code of the virus one by one, so PCR cannot also recognize or distinguish virus variants," said the spokesman.
The Covid-19 task force spokesperson said due to the presence of SGTF in the PCR results, the detection tool cannot be a definitive identification of one variant. Which is why it must be continued with the Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) detection method.
"WGS can sequence the genetic code of the virus one by one as a whole,” Adisasmito said. “From beginning to end. Only from the intact genetic code can variants be recognized and distinguished."
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