Salivary detection of COVID-19: clinical performance of oral sponge sampling for SARS-CoV-2 testing.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The current diagnostic standard for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing with nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs. The invasiveness and need for trained personnel make the NP technique unsuited for repeated community-based mass screening. We developed a technique to collect saliva in a simple and easy way with the sponges that are usually used for tamponade of epistaxis. This study was carried out to validate the clinical performance of oral sponge (OS) sampling for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing.

Methods

Over a period of 22 weeks, we collected prospectively 409 paired NP and OS samples from consecutive subjects presenting to a public community-based free screening centr

SUBMITTER: Boutros J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8474486 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature