[Mom MD]

We have been using pcr as a diagnostic test for multiple infectious agents for years. It is usually the confirmatory gold standard

[ResponseAbility]

****We have been using pcr as a diagnostic test for multiple infectious agents for years. It is usually the confirmatory gold standard***

It is a volumetric test, not a diagnostic test. If it fits your prediagnostic conclusion it is great

[rdcbn1]

The PCR test is only as good and reliable for diagnostic purposes as the markers they replicate and the number of replication iterations used in the test.

In the case of Covid-19, the markers used were not unique and covid specific enough for reliable identification of SARS-2 virus and the number of transcription iterations was high enough that even trace contamination of test gives false positives. The problems we saw using PCR test methods for Covid-19 is not an indictment of the general efficacy of the PCR test method, it's an indictment of how it mis used during the covid pandemic

[HypatiaTaught]

“It’s [PCR] just a process that’s used to make a whole lot of something out of something. That’s what it is. It doesn’t tell you that you’re sick and it doesn’t tell you that the thing you ended up with really was going to hurt you or anything like that.”

-Kary Mullis

[DesertRhino]

It’s not a “gold standard” (despite that term being used by every medical person ever asked)
It’s main advantage is that it is very fast and cheap, and does not require cultures. In that manner it is similar to this “vaccine” in that it is fast and cheap to make which pharma loves.

According to the NIH it’s advantages must be carefully balanced with it’s negatives which include;

1) False positives form comtamination,
2) False negatives,
3) PCR assays may detect microbial pathogens at concentrations below those of previously established gold standard reference methods. Distinguishing whether this result represents a false-positive finding and establishing the clinical significance of these findings is challenging.
4) Limited detection space for characterizing the detected pathogen

[ransomnote]

The PCR test also can't differentiate between orange juice, Coca Cola, a goat, Spanish water, Influenza and Covid.

Oh and they intentionally run it at too many cycles to work anyway.

[grey_whiskers]

*Snerk*

Even though the guy who invented the test and got the Nobel Prize in Medicine for it, said it wasn’t meant as a diagnostic.

It’s amazing how arrogant beyond their actual competence MDs tend to be.

And how hidebound and far from actual science the practice of medicine tends to be.

[grey_whiskers]

I got your "Gold Standard" right here.