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. 2021 Mar 15;72(6):1064-1066.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa848.

Sensitivity of Nasopharyngeal Swabs and Saliva for the Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

Alainna J Jamal  1   2   3 , Mohammad Mozafarihashjin  2 , Eric Coomes  3 , Jeff Powis  4 , Angel X Li  2 , Aimee Paterson  2 , Sofia Anceva-Sami  2 , Shiva Barati  2 , Gloria Crowl  2 , Amna Faheem  2 , Lubna Farooqi  2 , Saman Khan  2 , Karren Prost  5 , Susan Poutanen  2   3 , Maureen Taylor  4 , Lily Yip  5 , Xi Zoe Zhong  2 , Allison J McGeer  1   2   3 , Samira Mubareka  3   5 ; Toronto Invasive Bacterial Diseases Network COVID-19 Investigators
Collaborators, Affiliations

Sensitivity of Nasopharyngeal Swabs and Saliva for the Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2

Alainna J Jamal et al. Clin Infect Dis. .

Abstract

We enrolled 91 consecutive inpatients with COVID-19 at 6 hospitals in Toronto, Canada, and tested 1 nasopharyngeal swab/saliva sample pair from each patient using real-time RT-PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Sensitivity was 89% for nasopharyngeal swabs and 72% for saliva (P = .02). Difference in sensitivity was greatest for sample pairs collected later in illness.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; nasopharyngeal swab; saliva.

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