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Saliva is Comparable to Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Molecular Detection of SARS-CoV-2
- Source :
- Microbiology Spectrum, Microbiology Spectrum, Vol 9, Iss 1 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- The continued need for molecular testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the potential for self-collected saliva as an alternative to nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs for sample acquisition led us to compare saliva to NP swabs in an outpatient setting without restrictions to avoid food, drink, smoking, or tooth-brushing. A total of 385 pairs of NP and saliva specimens were obtained, the majority from individuals presenting for initial evaluation, and were tested on two high-sensitivity reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) platforms, the Abbott m2000 and Abbott Alinity m (both with limits of detection [LoD] of 100 copies of viral RNA/ml). Concordance between saliva and NP swabs was excellent overall (Cohen’s κ = 0.93) for both initial and follow-up testing, for both platforms, and for specimens treated with guanidinium transport medium as preservative as well as for untreated saliva (κ = 0.88 to 0.95). Viral loads were on average 16× higher in NP specimens than saliva specimens, suggesting that only the relatively small fraction of outpatients (∼8% in this study) who present with very low viral loads (
- Subjects :
- Microbiology (medical)
Saliva
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Physiology
Sample (material)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Context (language use)
Microbiology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Sensitivity and Specificity
NP swab
Specimen Handling
Time
stomatognathic system
Nasopharynx
Genetics
Medicine
Humans
Viral rna
saliva
limit of detection
General Immunology and Microbiology
Ecology
business.industry
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
Cell Biology
Viral Load
QR1-502
Infectious Diseases
Specimen collection
COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing
Immunology
RNA, Viral
business
Viral load
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 21650497
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Microbiology spectrum
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d4f92aca67af3ad51dd127168c9db941