IGMH’s Doctor Dr. Moosa Murad says most false-positive results are caused by cross-contamination of samples.
He made this comment at the latest press briefing on Covid-19 while answering a question from a reporter about the conflicting Covid-19 results of the same patient that have been recorded on numerous occasions.
Dr. Murad explained the different scenarios for false-positive test results.
He said no test could provide a 100 percent accurate result and that all tests are subject to imprecise results. Dr. Murad explained that if these imprecise results remain low in number than the test is considered accurate.
The doctor said the most common cause for a false result is technical problems that occur while the samples are being tested. He said that the laboratory technician’s use probes on each sample and that this could be a cause for cross-contamination.
He also said false results are caused by the differences in test sensitivity. He said with the machine set for a particular parameter and if the test kit sensitivity does not match these parameters then the result might be false.
Dr. Murad also said the actions of the lab techs also might contaminate a test sample that would result in a false test.
He assured that the lab is meticulous on such contaminations and would re-run such samples.
He added that this is not caused by a fault in the testing process or by the incompetence of the lab techs.
