Journal
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Volume 222, Issue 10, Pages 1612-1619Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa487
Keywords
coronavirus; COVID-19; diagnosis; saliva; SARS-CoV-2
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Funding
- Health and Medical Research Fund-Commissioned Research on the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) from the Food and Health Bureau, Hong Kong SAR Government [COVID190107]
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Background. Self-collected specimens have been advocated to avoid infectious exposure to healthcare workers. Self-induced sputum in those with a productive cough and saliva in those without a productive cough have been proposed, but sensitivity remains uncertain. Methods. We performed a prospective study in 2 regional hospitals in Hong Kong. Results. We prospectively examined 563 serial samples collected during the virus shedding periods of 50 patients: 150 deep throat saliva (DTS), 309 pooled-nasopharyngeal (NP) and throat swabs, and 104 sputum. Deep throat saliva had the lowest overall reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-positive rate (68.7% vs 89.4% [sputum] and 80.9% [pooled NP and throat swabs]) and the lowest viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) concentration (mean log copy/mL 3.54 vs 5.03 [sputum] and 4.63 [pooled NP and throat swabs]). Analyses with respect to time from symptom onset and severity also revealed similar results. Virus yields of DTS correlated with that of sputum (Pearson correlation index 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.62-0.86). We estimated that the overall false-negative rate of DTS could be as high as 31.3% and increased 2.7 times among patients without sputum. Conclusions. Deep throat saliva produced the lowest viral RNA concentration and RT-PCR-positive rate compared with conventional respiratory specimens in all phases of illness. Self-collected sputum should be the choice for patients with sputum.
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