Prospective Study Comparing Deep Throat Saliva With Other Respiratory Tract Specimens in the Diagnosis of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019
Christopher K C Lai, Zigui Chen, Grace Lui, Lowell Ling, Timothy Li, Martin C S Wong, Rita W Y Ng, Eugene Y K Tso, Tracy Ho, Kitty S C Fung, Siu T Ng, Barry K C Wong, Siaw S Boon, David S C Hui, Paul K S Chan, Christopher K C Lai, Zigui Chen, Grace Lui, Lowell Ling, Timothy Li, Martin C S Wong, Rita W Y Ng, Eugene Y K Tso, Tracy Ho, Kitty S C Fung, Siu T Ng, Barry K C Wong, Siaw S Boon, David S C Hui, Paul K S Chan
Abstract
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.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; diagnosis; saliva.
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Source: PubMed