| Title |
Saliva as an Alternative Specimen for Molecular COVID-19 Testing in Community Settings and Population-Based Screening
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Infection and Drug Resistance, October 2020
|
| DOI | 10.2147/idr.s275152 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Abiola Senok, Hanan Alsuwaidi, Yusrah Atrah, Ola Al Ayedi, Janan Al Zahid, Aaron Han, Asma Al Marzooqi, Saba Al Heialy, Basel Altrabulsi, Laila AbdelWareth, Youssef Idaghdour, Raghib Ali, Tom Loney, Alawi Alsheikh-Ali |
| Abstract |
With the easing of restriction measures, repeated community-based sampling for tracking new COVID-19 infections is anticipated for the next 6 to 12 months. A non-invasive, self-collected specimen like saliva will be useful for such public health surveillance. Investigations on the use of saliva for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR have largely been among COVID-19 in-pa\tients and symptomatic ambulatory patients with limited work in a community-based screening setting. This study was carried out to address this paucity of data and reported discrepancies in diagnostic accuracy for saliva samples. From 29th June to 14th July 2020, adults presenting for COVID-19 testing at a community-based screening facility in Dubai, United Arab Emirates were recruited. Clinical data, nasopharyngeal swab in universal transport media and drooling saliva in sterile containers were obtained. Reverse transcriptase PCR amplification of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and N genes was used to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Of the 401 participants, 35 (8.7%) had viral detection in at least one specimen type and the majority (n=20/35; 57.1%) were asymptomatic. Both swab and saliva were positive in 19 (54.2%) patients, while 7 (20.0%) patients had swab positive/saliva negative results. There were 9 (25.7%) patients with saliva positive/swab negative result and this included 5 asymptomatic COVID-19 patients undergoing repeat screening. Using the swab as the reference gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of saliva were 73.1% (95% CI 52.2-88.4%) and 97.6% (95% CI 95.5-98.9%) while the positive and negative predictive values were 67.9% (95% CI 51.5-80.8%) and 98.1% (95% CI 96.5-99.0%), respectively. The findings suggest good diagnostic accuracy for saliva and feasibility of utilization of specimen without transport media for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR. Saliva represents a potential specimen of choice in community settings and population-based screening. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profile of 1 X user who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 114 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 114 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 17 | 15% |
| Researcher | 13 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 12 | 11% |
| Other | 9 | 8% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 5% |
| Other | 18 | 16% |
| Unknown | 39 | 34% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 29 | 25% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 7 | 6% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 6 | 5% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 5 | 4% |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 20 | 18% |
| Unknown | 43 | 38% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 13. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 March 2023.
All research outputs
#2,616,104
of 25,163,621 outputs
Outputs from Infection and Drug Resistance
#103
of 2,023 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#66,036
of 419,548 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Infection and Drug Resistance
#4
of 57 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,163,621 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 89th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,023 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 57 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.