Media release

From: American College of Physicians

Saliva sampling could be a similarly sensitive, less costly alternative to nasal swabs for COVID-19 testing

Nasopharyngeal swabs are the primary sampling method used for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but they require a trained health care professional and extensive personal protective equipment. Saliva-based sampling for detecting SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to address many barriers associated with nasopharyngeal swabs. Authors from McGill University summarize evidence comparing the sensitivities for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection between nasopharyngeal swabs and saliva samples. They found that saliva sampling to be a similarly sensitive and less costly alternative that could replace nasopharyngeal swabs for collection of clinical samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing