Saliva may be more sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 detection than invasive swabs
Experimental study: At least one thing in the experiment was changed to see if it had an impact on the subjects (often people or animals) – eg: changing the amount of time mice spend on an exercise wheel to find out what impact it has on weight loss.
People: This is a study based on research using people.
Rapid and accurate testing is essential for controlling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The current gold standard for COVID-19 diagnosis uses nasopharyngeal swabs. A new pre-print study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggests that saliva samples may be more sensitive and provide greater consistency in detecting the virus throughout the course of infection. The authors, led by New Zealander Dr Anne Wyllie, suggest this could enable at-home self-administered sample collection for accurate large-scale testing.
Link to research (DOI): 10.1101/2020.04.16.20067835.this
Organisation/s: Yale School of Public Health, USA
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Expert Reaction
These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.
Professor David Murdoch is Dean and Head of Campus, University of Otago, Christchurch and Co-Director of One Health Aotearoa
Dr Nikki Freed is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Natural and Computational Sciences at Massey University