1. Comparable Specimen Collection from Both Ends of At-Home Midturbinate Swabs
- Author
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Melissa Truong, Ashley E. Kim, Jay Shendure, Lea M. Starita, Mark J. Rieder, Brian Pfau, Janet A. Englund, Elisabeth Brandstetter, Helen Y. Chu, Peter D Han, Deborah A. Nickerson, Matthew Richardson, Evan McDermot, Christina M. Lockwood, and Eric Q. Konnick
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Microbiology (medical) ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,030106 microbiology ,Dentistry ,Specimen Handling ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Nasopharynx ,Health care ,Humans ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,self-swab ,Personal protective equipment ,Letter to the Editor ,business.industry ,Sampling (statistics) ,COVID-19 ,medicine.disease ,Respiratory pathogens ,Specimen collection ,Medical emergency ,at-home ,business - Abstract
Unsupervised upper respiratory specimen collection is a key factor in the ability to massively scale SARS-CoV-2 testing. But there is concern that unsupervised specimen collection may produce inferior samples. Across two studies that included unsupervised at-home mid-turbinate specimen collection, ∼1% of participants used the wrong end of the swab. We found that molecular detection of respiratory pathogens and a human biomarker were comparable between specimens collected from the handle of the swab and those collected correctly. Older participants were more likely to use the swab backwards. Our results suggest that errors made during home-collection of nasal specimens do not preclude molecular detection of pathogens and specialized swabs may be an unnecessary luxury during a pandemic.
- Published
- 2021