Viral Load Kinetics of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Saliva in Korean Patients: a Prospective Multi-center Comparative Study.
J Korean Med Sci
; 35(31): e287, 2020 Aug 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-705844
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
This study was performed to compare the viral load and kinetics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in saliva with those in standard nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal (NP/OP) swabs.METHODS:
Fifteen patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection from four hospitals were prospectively enrolled and matched samples of nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swabs and saliva were collected at Day 1 of admission and every other day till consequently negative for two times. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) was performed to detect the envelope (E) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) genes.RESULTS:
The cycle threshold values of saliva were comparable to those of NP/OP swabs overall (P = 0.720, Mann-Whitney U test). However, the overall sensitivity of rRT-PCR using saliva was 64% (34/53), which is lower than the 77% (41/53) using NP/OP swabs. The sensitivity of rRT-PCR using saliva was especially lower in early stage of symptom onset (1-5 days; 8/15; 53%) and in patients who did not have sputum (12/22; 55%).CONCLUSION:
Saliva sample itself is not appropriate for initial diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to replace NP/OP swabs, especially for the person who does not produce sputum. COVID-19 cannot be excluded when the test using saliva is negative, and it is necessary to retest using NP/OP swabs.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Saliva
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Betacoronavirus
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
J Korean Med Sci
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS