Comparison of nasopharyngeal and saliva swabs for the detection of RNA SARS-CoV-2 during mass screening (SALICOV study).

Sandrine Castelain, Catherine François, Baptiste Demey, Aurelien Aubry, Jean-Philippe Lanoix, Gilles Duverlie, Jean-Luc Schmit, Etienne Brochot

The new microbiologica 2021 Jan

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In the context of a second wave of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, the use of saliva sampling has become an issue of real importance. SARS-CoV-2 RNA screening was performed on nasopharyngeal and saliva swabs collected from 501 individuals from residential homes for the elderly. The saliva samples were collected at the same time as the nasopharyngeal samples. Nasopharyngeal samples yielded positive results for 26 individuals, only two of whom also tested positive with saliva swabs. In this context, saliva collected by swabbing the fluid is not an ideal sample.

Citation

Sandrine Castelain, Catherine François, Baptiste Demey, Aurelien Aubry, Jean-Philippe Lanoix, Gilles Duverlie, Jean-Luc Schmit, Etienne Brochot. Comparison of nasopharyngeal and saliva swabs for the detection of RNA SARS-CoV-2 during mass screening (SALICOV study). The new microbiologica. 2021 Jan;44(1):59-61