This reminds me of the time my whole family had to get two sets of Covid tests to get into Canada. Then a third test once we got to the border. It was inconvenient, but we're all still alive so I'm not going to complain.
Preemptive FAQ:
1. Pluslife, like it says on the unit
2. No, it's not approved in the US yet, you have to import them
3. The best source is Germany and the shipping is a beast but they're way more accurate than RATs
4. The base unit is a little pricey but the consumables are equivalent to RATs
The other advantage is you can pool multiple people on a single test card and it's still accurate (not positive of the upper bounds they've validated but it's definitely more than one), so bulk testing is a lot easier and faster!
Yes, we did a batch of 3 of us and a batch of 2 without a problem. Chemist spouse said that it's dependent on liquid amount, and internet reading seems to be confident in 6 people and that 10 is probably too many to work.
I mean, it's the US, so the answer is "yes". USD:EUR is about at parity right now and if I walked into the nearest drugstore for a RAT right now it's $24 for a 2-pack. You can get them cheaper in bulk but you can't really get under $6-7.
A local friend got together a few of us to combine shipping and I was not the one taking point on it, but I'm pretty sure she just ordered from Germany, possibly with the discount code referenced on that page
You want a PlusLife Mini Dock (the tester) and some tests. You can go with PlusLife Sars-Cov-2 PCR Test Kits for the Covid only tests, or get the combo Covid + Influenza tests. The Covid tests have an LOD of 400, while the combo tests LOD is 1000.
LOD = limit of detection, or how many covids/mL it takes to detect a positive result. So, the Covid only tests are more sensitive than the combo tests. For comparison, good RATs are 1 million, and bad RATs are 10 million.
You get 10 tests per test kit. Each test comes with 1 swab.
I am *fascinated* by these things - youβre the first person Iβve seen to have one that Iβd trust to give a good review. Do you mind if I ask questions?
The third party FAQ (https://virus.sucks/pluslife_en/) says the control is looking for Ξ²-Actin. There's no recommended maintenance other than cleaning and running a blank card if you spill a positive sample.
@punkrockscience.bsky.social have you done lamp? I bought reagents and an early covid set of primers (i recall 15-20 tubes, pretty sure that included some sort of human control). Never even ran it, cause i have qpcr and understand that. I think Chris Mason was doing large scale lamp.
I have done a lot of LAMP tests, for SARS-CoV-2 and others. The sensitivity and specificity can be wicked variable depending on the primer set used, and one of the trade-offs to the higher βsensitivityβ some LAMP assays show is a higher chance of false positives due to nonspecific amplification.
It seems so cool. Democratizing who can do molecular detection. But with things like bento pcr making pcr cheap??
I thought combining wastewater monitoring with lamp world be awesome and potentially doable in a wwtp lab. But needed extraction, couldn't just lyse like we could for saliva.
We love ours. We're having Christmas with my sister for the first time in 5 years because of it. I'm glad you don't have covid and hope you feel better soon.
This sounds awesome and I want one of these. Between the annoyance of MCAS and the really wanting to be more comfortable with visitors that'd make so much of a difference with comfort.
(I'm not rah but just want to say +1 to these being impressive!, my friend who I'm currently staying with has one and she's been showing me the ropes with the interpretation software, it's pretty cool)
They are AWESOME, we haven't even dug into the software yet but just the ability to pool multiple people on a single card and therefore get through testing a group faster and more accurately is worth it!
Like, I'm actually pondering having more people over now that we can do one run of samples for everyone and be reasonably confident it will detect much earlier than a RAT will!
Yeah and supposedly the software can even detect like very early infections that other tests would not; per my friend: there are several channels each looking for a different genetic chunk, and sometimes a single channel might be a little elevated even though the overall test would be considered neg
See, this is why Iβm worried about this instrument - how reliable is that? In most clinical tests/labs, a low-concentration hit on just one of the primers in a test would be more likely to be considered a false result (eg contamination) than an βearly infectionβ.
(and the software shows you all this raw data instead of sticking it behind a binary pos/neg, for those that really want to nerd out, whether for fun or safety necessity)
Yessss. I also have one of these and we used it 3 times this week! To confirm the teen didn't get covid at their massive choral performances or from the outbreak in their grade, and to be able to unmask with friends for a birthday meal. It's already making a huge difference in our lives.
Comments
1. Pluslife, like it says on the unit
2. No, it's not approved in the US yet, you have to import them
3. The best source is Germany and the shipping is a beast but they're way more accurate than RATs
4. The base unit is a little pricey but the consumables are equivalent to RATs
https://lifehacker.com/where-to-find-a-pcr-covid-test-and-why-you-need-one-1850779459
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkv8c978DWU
Is RAT pricing way higher in the US than here or something? They're about β¬2/each in Germany.
You want a PlusLife Mini Dock (the tester) and some tests. You can go with PlusLife Sars-Cov-2 PCR Test Kits for the Covid only tests, or get the combo Covid + Influenza tests. The Covid tests have an LOD of 400, while the combo tests LOD is 1000.
You get 10 tests per test kit. Each test comes with 1 swab.
How reliable does it seem to be? Are the consumables consistent? Is there maintenance? Calibration?
How clear are they with details like what primers theyβre using? (I do assay development, this is my jam.)
The third party FAQ (https://virus.sucks/pluslife_en/) says the control is looking for Ξ²-Actin. There's no recommended maintenance other than cleaning and running a blank card if you spill a positive sample.
I thought combining wastewater monitoring with lamp world be awesome and potentially doable in a wwtp lab. But needed extraction, couldn't just lyse like we could for saliva.
I hope things improve soon