Skip to main content

What is Drug Test Strips and How does it work?

 

What is Drug Test Strips?

Drug Test Strip is a piece of ribbon made up of either paper or plastic used to screen for the presence of drugs in the biological specimens such as urine or blood. The strip has chemical pad or reagents which when comes in contact with the biological specimen reacts or changes color. It works on the principle of competitive binding of the drug substance and/or its metabolites to the testing strip.

Most commonly used biological specimen for drug testing is urine. Drug testing strips are one of the most economical and safe ways to screen for drug misuse or dependence. There are single drug test strip kits to multi-drug test strip kits available in the market. People can choose single drug test strip kit to check for any one particular drug or multi-drug test strip kit to check for different drugs at the same time at the comfort of their house or any other place.

How Does Drug Test Strips Work?

When drug testing strips are immersed in the urine specimen, specific immunochemical reaction takes place between the antibodies and antigens to break down particular chemical compounds in the specimen. The assay depends on the principle of competitive binding of the antibody between drug conjugate and free drug that may be present in the tested urine sample.

When there is presence of any drug in the urine specimen, it competes with the conjugate of the drug for a determined quantity of antibody dye conjugate. When the drug amount is equal or more than the cut-off level, the binding of drug conjugate to the antibody will be prevented. Therefore, when the urine sample tests positive for a drug, the colored band will not show up on the test line zone. The appearance of a colored band indicates either no drug or the amount of drug is less than the standard cut-off level.

For instance, when screening for any drug such as THC, OPI or MAMP in the urine specimen, the presence of any drug would make it to contend with the drug conjugate for a determined quantity of the antibody dye conjugate. If the amount of the drug detected is equal or more than the cut-off level, the binding of drug conjugate to the antibody will be prevented and hence stopping the coloring of the band; thus indicating a positive result. If no drug is detected, binding of the drug conjugate to the antibody will take place and the band in the test line zone will get colored, indicating a negative result.

When the drug test strip is immersed in urine sample, a colored band will appear in the Control Region. This indicates that the test is performed appropriately. A colored band in the Test Line Region is interpreted as a negative result (no drugs present or the amount of drug present doesn’t meet the standard cut-off level). No occurrence of colored band in the Test Line Region indicates a positive result (presence of drugs).

If there is no appearance of any colored bands in any of the regions, you can try re-dipping the strip(s) again in the urine specimen for a few more seconds and check if the colored bands appear. Even after the second attempt if no colored bands appear, then the test is considered to be invalid.

Preliminary positive results can be confirmed with a more specific alternative testing method such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

Therefore, a drug test strip is a preliminary method that can only indicate if the donor is positive or negative for drug(s).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Drug Test Kits?

  A drug test kit is a device or substance used to detect the presence of drugs or other substances in a person’s body. There are several types of drug test kits available, including: Urine drug test kits : These kits are used to detect drugs in a person’s urine, and are commonly  used for pre-employment , random, and post-accident drug testing. Saliva drug test kits : These kits are used to detect drugs in a person’s saliva, and are becoming more common as they are easy to administer, non-invasive and can detect recent drug use. Hair drug test kits : These kits are used to detect drugs in a person’s hair, and can detect drug use over a longer period of time. Blood drug test kits : These kits are used to detect drugs in a person’s blood, and are considered the most accurate method of testing but are invasive and costly. Sweat drug test kits : These kits are used to detect drugs in a person’s sweat, and are less common but can detect recent drug use. Drug test kits can detect a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pros and Cons of Mandatory Drug Screening In Schools

  Recently, there has been a significant rise in substance use among teenagers. Research by the  National Institute on Drug Abuse  (NIDA) found that more than 20% of 8th graders have consumed an illegal substance at least once, and 11% of 12th graders are addicted to any one of the illegal substances. It is one of the biggest problems we face as a society since these drugs are wreaking havoc on our younger generation. Many public schools have begun implementing mandatory drug testing policies for their student body to combat this issue. The  5-panel drug test  is often used to detect substance use within schools. Yet, the effectiveness of these programs is still not apparent. In this article, we will analyze the boon and bane of mandatory drug testing to determine whether it should be compulsory for every school to install these programs. The Effectiveness of Mandatory Drug Tests A report based on the Psychological Corporation’s Drug Testing and Workplace Screen...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Pass Fingernail Drug Test?

  The truth is fingernail or nail bed drug tests are extremely difficult to beat if you are a drug abuser. Nail bed drug test is similar to the hair drug test with a detection window of 3-6 months and unlike the hair, drugs can get trapped in the keratin fibers of the nail making it near impossible to beat compared to oral saliva or mouth swab drug test or even hair drug test that have a higher success rate.  Keep in mind : Unlike hair testing, nail testing can only tell you if a substance or Drug was used but not when it was used. Since nail bed drug test has similar detection window compared to hair drug, check if you pass a hair drug test through our hair drug testing kit. What is Fingernail Drug Test?  A nail bed drug test or a fingernail drug test is a method employed to screen the nails for the presence of drug(s) or its metabolites. Collection of nails for testing is easier and is done under direct supervision of the collector. The results are stab...
Post a Comment
Read more