Digital PCR assay for the effective detection of COVID-19 patients with SARS-CoV-2 low viral load.
J Virol Methods
; 295: 114185, 2021 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1243068
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Viral nucleic acid detection by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is the current standard method for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, due to low viral load in some COVID-19 patients, false negative results from this method have been repeatedly reported.METHOD:
In this study, we compared the sensitivity and specificity of digital PCR (dPCR) in simulated samples and clinical samples with qPCR assay through a series of vigorous tests.RESULTS:
The results showed that dPCR was more sensitive than qPCR especially for samples with low viral load (≤3 copies). In addition, dPCR had similar specificity as qPCR and could effectively distinguish other human coronaviruses and influenza virus from SARS-CoV-2. More importantly, dPCR was more sensitive than qPCR in detecting the virus in the "negative" samples from recurrent COVID-19 patients.CONCLUSIONS:
In summary, dPCR could serve as a powerful complement to the current qPCR method for SARS-CoV-2 detection, especially for the samples with extremely low viral load, such as recurrent COVID-19 patients.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Viral Load
/
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
/
COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Virol Methods
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.jviromet.2021.114185
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