Overcoming limitations in the availability of swabs systems used for SARS-CoV-2 laboratory diagnostics

Overcoming limitations in the availability of swabs systems used for SARS-CoV-2 laboratory diagnostics

Blog Article

Abstract The diagnosis of COVID-19 relies on the direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in respiratory specimens by RT-PCR.The pandemic spread of the disease caused an imbalance between demand and supply of materials and reagents needed for diagnostic purposes including swab sets.In a comparative effectiveness hindigyanvishv.com study, we conducted serial follow-up swabs in hospitalized laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients.We assessed the diagnostic performance of an in-house system developed according to recommendations by the US CDC.In a total of 96 serial swabs, we found significant differences in the accuracy of the different swab systems to generate a positive result in SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR, ranging from around 50 to 80%.

Of note, an in-house swab system was superior to most commercially available sets as reflected invertatop squeeze bottle by significantly lower Ct values of viral genes.Thus, a simple combination of broadly available materials may enable diagnostic laboratories to bypass global limitations in the supply of swab sets.