Sensitivity of Nasopharyngeal Swabs and Saliva for the Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. (25th June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jamal, Alainna J; Mozafarihashjin, Mohammad; Coomes, Eric; Powis, Jeff; Li, Angel X; Paterson, Aimee; Anceva-Sami, Sofia; Barati, Shiva; Crowl, Gloria; Faheem, Amna; Farooqi, Lubna; Khan, Saman; Prost, Karren; Poutanen, Susan; Taylor, Maureen; Yip, Lily; Zhong, Xi Zoe; McGeer, Allison J; Mubareka, Samira
• Is Part Of: Clinical infectious diseases. Volume 72:Number 6(2021)
• Page Start: 1064
• Page End: 1066
• Publication Date: 2020-06-25
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- SARS-CoV-2 -- nasopharyngeal swab -- saliva; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; 616.905
• DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaa848
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1058-4838

Abstract

Abstract: We enrolled 91 consecutive inpatients with COVID-19 at 6 hospitals in Toronto, Canada, and tested 1 nasopharyngeal swab/saliva sample pair from each patient using real-time RT-PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Sensitivity was 89% for nasopharyngeal swabs and 72% for saliva ( P = .02). Difference in sensitivity was greatest for sample pairs collected later in illness.