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Saliva offers a sensitive, specific and non-invasive alternative to upper respiratory swabs for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.
Preprint
in En
| PREPRINT-MEDRXIV
| ID: ppmedrxiv-20149534
ABSTRACT
RT-qPCR utilising upper respiratory swabs are the diagnostic gold standard for SARS-CoV-2 despite reported low sensitivity and limited scale up due to global shortages. Saliva is a non-invasive, equipment independent alternative to swabs. We collected 145 paired saliva and nasal/throat (NT) swabs at diagnosis (day 0) and repeated on day 2 and day 7 dependent on inpatient care and day 28 for study follow up. Laboratory cultured virus was used to determine the analytical sensitivity of spiked saliva and swabs containing amies preservation media. Self-collected saliva samples were found to be consistent, and in some cases superior when compared to healthcare worker collected NT swabs from COVID-19 suspected participants. We report for the first time the analytical limit of detection of 10-2and 100 pfu/ml for saliva and swabs respectively. Saliva is a easily self-collected, highly sensitive specimen for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.
cc_by_nc_nd
Full text:
1
Collection:
09-preprints
Database:
PREPRINT-MEDRXIV
Type of study:
Cohort_studies
/
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Language:
En
Year:
2020
Document type:
Preprint