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Deep throat saliva as an alternative diagnostic specimen type for the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2
Author(s) -
Leung Eddie Chiman,
Chow Viola Chiying,
Lee May Kinping,
Lai Raymond Waiman
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.26258
Subject(s) - throat , saliva , virology , covid-19 , medicine , polymerase chain reaction , coronavirus , virus , reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction , pathology , biology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , surgery , gene , biochemistry , messenger rna
Nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) are widely accepted as specimens for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) in the current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019. However, the collection procedures for NPS specimens causes sneezing and coughing in most patients, which generate droplets or aerosol particles that are hazardous to the healthcare workers collecting these specimens. In this study, 95 patient‐matched paired deep throat saliva (DTS) and NPS specimens from 62 patients were analyzed. Samples were tested for SARS‐CoV‐2 by reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). The rates of detection for DTS (53.7%) and NPS (47.4%) samples were comparable ( P = .13). It is important to note that the patients should be clearly instructed or supervised during DTS collection. In conclusion, SARS‐CoV‐2 detection by RT‐PCR was equivalent in DTS and NPS specimens.