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Saliva samples preferable to deep nasal swabs for testing COVID-19
Medical Xpress
Michael Greenwood, Yale University
APRIL 27, 2020
As testing for the novel coronavirus continues to scale up, a new study finds that saliva samples are a "preferable" indicator for infection than the deep nasal swabs now widely used.
The study led by the Yale School of Public Health—and conducted at Yale New Haven Hospital with 44 inpatients and 98 health care workers—found that saliva samples taken from just inside the mouth provided greater detection sensitivity and consistency throughout the course of an infection than the broadly recommended nasopharyngeal (NP) approach. The study also concluded that there was less variability in results with the self-sample collection of saliva.
"Taken together, our findings demonstrate that saliva is a viable and more sensitive alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs and could enable at-home self-administered sample collection for accurate large-scale SARS-CoV-2 testing," said first author Anne Wyllie, an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health and a member of its Public Health Modeling Unit. She was joined by 49 other researchers at Yale on the study.
The researchers also reported that the saliva approach detected SARS-CoV-2 in two asymptomatic health care workers who had previously tested negative for the virus in a NP swab test. Saliva testing may be especially useful due to its accuracy in identifying mild SARS-CoV-2 infections that are not detected with other methods, the researchers said.
The study led by the Yale School of Public Health—and conducted at Yale New Haven Hospital with 44 inpatients and 98 health care workers—found that saliva samples taken from just inside the mouth provided greater detection sensitivity and consistency throughout the course of an infection than the broadly recommended nasopharyngeal (NP) approach. The study also concluded that there was less variability in results with the self-sample collection of saliva.
"Taken together, our findings demonstrate that saliva is a viable and more sensitive alternative to nasopharyngeal swabs and could enable at-home self-administered sample collection for accurate large-scale SARS-CoV-2 testing," said first author Anne Wyllie, an associate research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health and a member of its Public Health Modeling Unit. She was joined by 49 other researchers at Yale on the study.
The researchers also reported that the saliva approach detected SARS-CoV-2 in two asymptomatic health care workers who had previously tested negative for the virus in a NP swab test. Saliva testing may be especially useful due to its accuracy in identifying mild SARS-CoV-2 infections that are not detected with other methods, the researchers said.
Read more: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-saliva-samples-deep-nasal-swabs.html
Thank goodness for small favors!
10 replies
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Fantastic. Birx just reported that we need a major technological breakthrough in testing. This isn't it, but it's important
My first reaction was also relief at hopefully missing out on the torture.
Dude, we can't even get medical workers PPE... tests scarce too. Maybe a saliva test is easier to mass produce? if so that would be great. Somehow I doubt it 
