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Detection of SARS-CoV-2 by rapid antigen tests on saliva in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

De Marinis, Yang LU ; Pesola, Anne Katrine ; Söderlund Strand, Anna LU ; Norman, Astrid ; Pernow, Gustav ; Aldén, Markus LU ; Yang, Runtao and Rasmussen, Magnus LU (2021) In Infection Ecology and Epidemiology 11(1).
Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presents great challenges on transmission prevention, and rapid diagnosis is essential to reduce the disease spread. Various diagnostic methods are available to identify an ongoing infection by nasopharyngeal (NPH) swab sampling. However, the procedure requires handling by health care professionals, and therefore limits the application in household and community settings. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to determine if the detection of SARS-CoV-2 can be performed alternatively on saliva specimens by rapid antigen test. Study Design: Saliva and NPH specimens were collected from 44 patients with confirmed COVID-19. To assess the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test on... (More)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presents great challenges on transmission prevention, and rapid diagnosis is essential to reduce the disease spread. Various diagnostic methods are available to identify an ongoing infection by nasopharyngeal (NPH) swab sampling. However, the procedure requires handling by health care professionals, and therefore limits the application in household and community settings. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to determine if the detection of SARS-CoV-2 can be performed alternatively on saliva specimens by rapid antigen test. Study Design: Saliva and NPH specimens were collected from 44 patients with confirmed COVID-19. To assess the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test on saliva specimens, we compared the performance of four test products. Results: RT-qPCR was performed and NPH and saliva sampling had similar Ct values, which associated with disease duration. All four antigen tests showed similar trend in detecting SARS-CoV-2 in saliva, but with variation in the ability to detect positive cases. The rapid antigen test with the best performance could detect up to 67% of the positive cases with Ct values lower than 25, and disease duration shorter than 10 days. Conclusion: Our study therefore supports saliva testing as an alternative diagnostic procedure to NPH testing, and that rapid antigen test on saliva provides a potential complement to PCR test to meet increasing screening demand.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
antigen test, COVID-19, saliva, SARS-CoV-2
in
Infection Ecology and Epidemiology
volume
11
issue
1
article number
1993535
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85118808711
  • pmid:34745449
ISSN
2000-8686
DOI
10.1080/20008686.2021.1993535
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
25737b61-055f-4e4d-a026-9591ac67b661
date added to LUP
2021-12-02 15:17:29
date last changed
2024-06-15 21:56:27
@article{25737b61-055f-4e4d-a026-9591ac67b661,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: The COVID-19 pandemic presents great challenges on transmission prevention, and rapid diagnosis is essential to reduce the disease spread. Various diagnostic methods are available to identify an ongoing infection by nasopharyngeal (NPH) swab sampling. However, the procedure requires handling by health care professionals, and therefore limits the application in household and community settings. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to determine if the detection of SARS-CoV-2 can be performed alternatively on saliva specimens by rapid antigen test. Study Design: Saliva and NPH specimens were collected from 44 patients with confirmed COVID-19. To assess the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test on saliva specimens, we compared the performance of four test products. Results: RT-qPCR was performed and NPH and saliva sampling had similar Ct values, which associated with disease duration. All four antigen tests showed similar trend in detecting SARS-CoV-2 in saliva, but with variation in the ability to detect positive cases. The rapid antigen test with the best performance could detect up to 67% of the positive cases with Ct values lower than 25, and disease duration shorter than 10 days. Conclusion: Our study therefore supports saliva testing as an alternative diagnostic procedure to NPH testing, and that rapid antigen test on saliva provides a potential complement to PCR test to meet increasing screening demand.</p>}},
  author       = {{De Marinis, Yang and Pesola, Anne Katrine and Söderlund Strand, Anna and Norman, Astrid and Pernow, Gustav and Aldén, Markus and Yang, Runtao and Rasmussen, Magnus}},
  issn         = {{2000-8686}},
  keywords     = {{antigen test; COVID-19; saliva; SARS-CoV-2}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Infection Ecology and Epidemiology}},
  title        = {{Detection of SARS-CoV-2 by rapid antigen tests on saliva in hospitalized patients with COVID-19}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008686.2021.1993535}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/20008686.2021.1993535}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}