High number of coronavirus cases may be due to oversensitive testing

"If the number of rounds is reduced, the number of patients may be smaller – and then the pressure to close the country will also be smaller."

By MAAYAN HARONI/MAARIV
Magen David Adom medical team members, wearing protective gear, is handling a Coronavirus test from patients in Jerusalem, on April 17, 2020. (photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Magen David Adom medical team members, wearing protective gear, is handling a Coronavirus test from patients in Jerusalem, on April 17, 2020.
(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
The criteria in Israel for determining by a lab test whether someone has coronavirus is higher than in many other countries, including Germany and the US. As a result, the number of people infected per million residents is very high in comparison.
If new criteria of coronavirus tests are formulated, the number of those defined as infected with the virus will be noticeably lower, senior doctors in Israel believe.
Samples taken from the subjects are transferred to the PCR device in the laboratory to identify the genetic material of the coronavirus. The device tries to detect signs of the virus in a process that is repeated dozens of times.
The Health Ministry has set a quota of 37 rounds. In Germany a quota of 30 rounds was set, and the United States requires 34.
Prof. Shlomo Maayan, director of the Infectious Disease Unit at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, estimates that if there is an adjustment in Israel to the number of rounds in other countries, the number of patients reported may be only hundreds per day instead of thousands.
“The criterion in Israel means that the number of infections is very high,” he said. “If the number of rounds is reduced, the number of patients may be smaller, and then the pressure to close the country will also be smaller.”
According to Prof. Yoram Lass, a former Health Ministry director-general, “The tests in Israel are lying because they are too sensitive.” The test does not distinguish between a live virus and a dead virus, he said.
Not all the experts we spoke to on the subject align with these claims, however.
Prof. Ariel Munitz of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine heads the coronavirus testing laboratory in Tel Aviv and does not agree.
“There are different types of tests,” he said. “Each lab works with a different type of swab, and the number of rounds required to decide who is positive and who is negative follows the manufacturer’s instructions. Everything is ‘offset’ into a uniform and reliable index. There is no evidence of hypersensitivity or anything like that.”
However, “the number of tests should be limited,” Munitz said. “A lot of patients are diagnosed today who are indeed patients. But most of them are mild in terms of symptoms, and the hospitals have nothing to do with it.”
According to Prof. Zeev Rotstein, director-general of Hadassah-University Medical Center, which operates the coronavirus laboratory, “The tests in Hadassah’s laboratory are very accurate.”
“Every lab has its own type,” he said. “There is no uniformity. But the tests are accurate; I know that for sure. There is no more or less; we see that there is accuracy. And I assume most hospitals work like us. There is constant control to ensure the accuracy of the activity.”
However, in light of the above, Rotstein said, the Health Ministry “announced to the hospitals that it will halve the number of ‘fast’ tests for diagnosing coronavirus. These are swabs that the Health Ministry supplies and hospitals purchase. These are the tests that are really critical. If someone is going to have surgery, for example, I need to know in a short period of time if he has corona so that he does not infect the staff.”