Quantifying the Impact of Nasopharyngeal Specimen Quality on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Test Performance.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) cycle threshold (Ct) has been used to estimate quantitative viral load, with the goal of targeting isolation precautions for individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and guiding public health interventions. However, variability in specimen quality can alter the Ct values obtained from SARS-CoV-2 clinical assays. We sought to define how variable nasopharyngeal (NP) swab quality impacts clinical SARS-CoV-2 test sensitivity.

Methods

We performed amplification of a human gene target (β-actin) in parallel with a clinical RT-PCR targeting the SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab gene for 1282 NP specimens collected from patients with clinical concern

SUBMITTER: Richard-Greenblatt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8136075 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature