No matter the year, children always try to come up with new ways to skip school. Fake COVID-19 tests are the newest trick. Kids are using soft drinks to fake lateral flow tests (LFT). Read along to find out how to distinguish fake COVID-19 tests from real ones.
How can you fake an LFT?
Firstly, deposit a few drops of orange and cola juices on LFTs.A few minutes later two lines appear on the test. This indicates a positive result for the presence of COVID-19.
But, how does an LFT work?
It is important to know how LFTs work. If you open an LFT device, you can see a strip of nitrocellulose paper along with a red pad. The red pad contains COVID-19 antibodies which eventually bind to the virus and show a positive result. In addition to this, there are gold nanoparticles attached. These nanoparticles are red and show us where antibodies are present.
While performing an LFT, the sample must be mixed properly with the liquid buffer. It ensures that the sample is at optimum pH. The fluid goes into the nitrocellulose paper and picks up the gold nanoparticles and antibodies. Additionally, it binds to the virus if it is present more antibodies can bind as they move along. Once bound they cannot move or unbind from the nanoparticles. The red strip also holds on to the virus.
Once bound to both sets of antibodies, the line appears indicating a positive test. However, the final line is what indicates that it is truly a virus.
How do soft drinks give fake COVID-19 tests?
Juices and soft drinks are highly acidic and they have been making the test malfunction. Additionally, the test does not show a positive when the soft drink is mixed with a buffer. Hence, the antibodies in the test react to the acidic nature of the beverages since the proteins become incredibly positive.
You can identify these false tests by washing them in water. Fake COVID-19 tests release the gold particles and show their true nature.
