This is the test you need to get if you test positive with a lateral flow test. It is sent to a lab for processing.
How does a PCR test work?
Lots in the wide world of the internet about PCR tests, but (as with LFT results) a lot of it is about how you can get one, or the mechanics of taking one, with less about the science of how it works.
If you have (as my students do) access to Clinical Key (Professional), there are book chapters about it. Some chapters confirm you can use PCR in a specific clinical area or to diagnose a specific causative agent, but some may go into more detail about how it works. There is one example below. Links labelled * give access to University of Leicester members - if you are at another institution or in the NHS, ask your librarian about access.
NICE Evidence Search (which very disappointingly is closing in March 2022) finds some material about specific technical aspects of PCR, or about its use to detect specific causative agents.
Here are some sources that do give a bit of detail about the technique in general.
Genome.gov (the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the US National Institutes of Health)
Medlineplus (the US National Library of Medicine)
Three that are more technical:
Chapter 6 in Clark's Molecular Biology* is about PCR.
Encyclopedia of Analytical Science* (Elsevier, from 2005, however)
Khan Academy
And if you would rather watch something, there is this from the Amoeba Sisters.
Or (late addition) the first in Jonathan Van-Tam's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures about viruses has an explanation of how PCR tests work (link is to the BBC iPlayer so may work only in the UK).
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