Self-Collected Anterior Nasal and Saliva Specimens versus Health Care Worker-Collected Nasopharyngeal Swabs for the Molecular Detection of SARS-CoV-2

J Clin Microbiol. 2020 Oct 21;58(11):e01824-20. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01824-20. Print 2020 Oct 21.

Abstract

We prospectively compared health care worker-collected nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) to self-collected anterior nasal swabs (ANS) and straight saliva for the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 354 patients. The percent positive agreement between NPS and ANS or saliva was 86.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 76.7 to 92.9%) and 93.8% (95% CI, 86.0 to 97.9%), respectively. The percent negative agreement was 99.6% (95% CI, 98.0 to 100.0%) for NPS versus ANS and 97.8% (95% CI, 95.3 to 99.2%) for NPS versus saliva. More cases were detected by the use of NPS (n = 80) and saliva (n = 81) than by the use of ANS (n = 70), but no single specimen type detected all severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections.

Keywords: SARS-Cov-2; alternative specimen; anterior nasal swab; nasopharyngeal swab; saliva.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Betacoronavirus / genetics
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis*
  • Female
  • Health Personnel
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Diagnostic Techniques*
  • Nasopharynx / virology
  • Nose / virology
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Saliva / virology
  • Self Care
  • Specimen Handling / methods*
  • Young Adult