Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul;42(7):1543-1547.
doi: 10.1002/hed.26322. Epub 2020 Jun 13.

Salivary detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and implications for oral health-care providers

Nimit Bajaj  1 , Bruno P Granwehr  2 , Ehab Y Hanna  3 , Mark S Chambers  3
Affiliations

Salivary detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and implications for oral health-care providers

Nimit Bajaj et al. Head Neck. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a major public health crisis. The diagnostic and containment efforts for the disease have presented significant challenges for the global health-care community. In this brief report, we provide perspective on the potential use of salivary specimens for detection and serial monitoring of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), based on current literature. Oral health-care providers are at an elevated risk of exposure to COVID-19 due to their proximity to nasopharynx of patients, and the practice involving the use of aerosol-generating equipment. Here, we summarize the general guidelines for oral health-care specialists for prevention of nosocomial transmission of COVID-19, and provide specific recommendations for clinical care management.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; head and neck; nosocomial infection; saliva.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(8):727‐733. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (WHO). Pneumonia of unknown cause—China. 01/05/2020; https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-ch.... Accessed April 15, 2020.
    1. Lu R, Zhao X, Li J, et al. Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lancet (London, England). 2020;395(10224):565‐574. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baker SC, Baric RS. The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome‐related coronavirus: classifying 2019‐nCoV and naming it SARS‐CoV‐2. Nat Microbiol. 2020;5(4):536‐544. 10.1038/s41564-020-0695-z. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO Director‐General's remarks at the media briefing on 2019‐nCoV on February 11, 2020 [press release].

MeSH terms