TY - JOUR
AU - McLennan, Kirsty
AU - Lang, Christie
AU - Adams, Ian R
AU - McAllister, Gina E.M.
AU - Reijns, Martin A M
AU - Templeton, Kate
AU - Johannessen, Ingólfur
AU - Leckie, Alastair
AU - Gilbert, Nick
PY - 2022
DA - May
TI - User acceptability of saliva and gargle samples for identifying COVID-19 positive high-risk workers and household contacts
JO - Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
VL - 104
IS - 1
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2022.115732
AB - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic nasopharyngeal or nose and/or throat swabs (NTS) have been the primary approach for collecting patient samples for the subsequent detection of viral RNA. However, this procedure, if undertaken correctly, can be unpleasant and therefore deters individuals from providing high quality samples. To overcome these limitations other modes of sample collection have been explored. In a cohort of frontline health care workers we have compared saliva and gargle samples to gold-standard NTS. 93% of individuals preferred providing saliva or gargle samples, with little sex-dependent variation. Viral titers collected in samples were analyzed using standard methods and showed that gargle and saliva were similarly comparable for identifying COVID-19 positive individuals compared to NTS (92% sensitivity; 98% specificity). We suggest that gargle and saliva collection are viable alternatives to NTS swabs and may encourage testing to provide better disease diagnosis and population surveillance.
PB - Elsevier
UR - https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/4ef84a53-162b-464b-a230-cca52e602e54
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Work and workforce
ER