Nucleic acid testing currently refers to new coronavirus nucleic acid testing, where the red liquid in the test tube is an inactivated nucleic acid specimen preservation solution.
Nucleic acid test collected throat swab specimen to be temporarily preserved in a test tube containing red liquid, the basic liquid is a modified viral nucleic acid extraction lysate, other components also include colored dyes, guanidinium, etc., and its biggest role is to preserve the test specimen at room temperature.
1. Modified Viral Nucleic Acid Extraction Lysate: It can carry out a simple inactivation of the specimen to prevent secondary infection during the sampling process.
2. Sampling tubes are usually filled with a red dye, which can be used to monitor the deterioration of the liquid in the tube. In the nucleic acid sampling process, the red dye can form a clear contrast, which is conducive to the observation of whether there is liquid leakage, but also in the absorption of specimens for laboratory analysis to observe the liquid level.
3. Guanidinate and RNase inhibitor components: such as diethyl pyrocarbonate, guanidine isothiocyanate, etc., all belong to the RNAase inhibitor, which can denature viral proteins and have an inactivating effect on viruses, while ensuring that the viral components are not decomposed, which can make the specimen preserved for one to three days at room temperature.
The components in the red liquid are non-toxic and non-corrosive, in case you get it on your skin, don’t worry too much about it, just wash it with water, but don’t try to drink it orally, and if you have any special circumstances, please seek medical attention as soon as possible.