Sold in pharmacies since November 27, All in triplex is a combined antigen test to detect Covid-19, bronchiolitis and flu. How does this device, which aims to facilitate doctors’ diagnosis, work and how can the results be interpreted?
A French innovation. Since November 27, this self-test to detect Covid-19, flu and bronchiolitis has been available in pharmacies for around 10 euros, knowing that each establishment can set its own price. Developed by AAZ, this tricolor pen called All in triplex aims to simplify the diagnosis of winter infections.
On its website, the company describes its product as “painless,” 99% “reliable,” “secure,” and “fast.” Equipped with an integrated sampling sponge, the latter is in fact accessible to children and adults.
How to use the self-test
While many French people feared the large swabs inserted into the nose by health professionals to detect Covid, All in triplex does not require going deep into the nasal cavity, which makes it particularly easy to use.
After blowing your nose as explained in the AAZ video, simply remove the test from its holder, remove its protective cap and insert it into the left nostril “until you feel resistance”.
Orange for bronchiolitis, green for the flu and blue for Covid-19, this is the color code used to distinguish viruses from each other. Thus, once the sponge is in the nasal cavity, the patient must rotate it while rubbing it “on the inner wall” of the nose for 15 seconds. An operation to be reproduced in the right nostril.
How to read the results
Then comes the moment of the result. After inserting the sponge into its holder upside down, AAZ recommends noting the time of the result, and waiting 15 minutes to be able to interpret it. For Covid and bronchiolitis, the test will be positive if two colored bands appear, while it will be negative for only one.
For influenza, the reading changes depending on the type of virus. A positive test for influenza A and B will show two colored bands, while there will be three if the patient contracted both infections at the same time. Like Covid and bronchiolitis, a single band will indicate a negative self-test.
With this system, “we know the cause of the illness you present. The doctor reduces his diagnostic uncertainty and finally, it is likely to reduce the prescription of antibiotics,” rejoiced Professor Cohen, infectious disease specialist and pediatrician at the microphone of Europe 1.
